Absolve

Definitions: Absolve

Absolve

Verb

1. Grant remission of a sin to; "The priest absolved him and told him to say 10 "Hail Mary's".

2. Let off the hook; "I absolve you from this responsibility".

Date "absolve" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Note: Absolve \Ab*solve"\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Absolved; present participle verb or noun Absolving.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Absolve

Synonyms: free (v), justify (v). (additional references)

Antonym: blame (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Acquittal	Verb: acquit, exculpate, exonerate, clear; absolve, whitewash, assoil; discharge, release; liberate.
Atonement	Verb: atone, atone for; expiate; propitiate; make amends, make good; reclaim, redeem, repair, ransom, absolve, purge, shrive, do penance, stand in a white sheet, repent in sackcloth and ashes, wear a hairshirt.
Exemption	Exempt, release, acquit, discharge, quitclaim, remise, remit; free, set at liberty, let off, pass over, spare, excuse, dispense with, give dispensation, license; stretch a point; absolve; (forgive); exonerate; (exculpate); save the necessity.
Forgiveness	Let off, remit, absolve, give absolution, reprieve; acquit.
Liberation	Verb: liberate, free; set free, set clear, set at liberty; render free, emancipate, release; enfranchise, affranchise; manumit; enlarge; disband, discharge, disenthrall, disenthral, dismiss; let go, let loose, loose, let out, let slip; cast adrift, turn adrift; deliver; absolve; (acquit).
Permission	Let off; absolve; (acquit); release, exonerate, dispense with.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Absolve

English words defined with "absolve": Absolutory, Absolving, assoil, Assoilyie ♦ forgive, free ♦ justify ♦ Pardon me ♦ wash one's hands. (references)

Etymologies containing "absolve": Absolution, Absolutory. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Absolve" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

French (absolves), Latin (acquit, free, pay off, release, secure acquittal, sum up, vote for).

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Mediocrities everywhereI absolve you. I absolve you. I absolve you. I absolve you. I absolve you all. (Amadeus; writing credit: Peter Shaffer;)
Movie/TV Titles	Absolve (2000)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Held Hostage by Lawyers: How to Hire, Fire, Sue or Absolve Your Attorney (reference) History Will Absolve Me (reference) History Will Not Absolve Us: Orwellian Control, Public Denial, and the Murder of President Kennedy (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Francois Villon	But pray God that he absolve us all!
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Author	Date	Quotation
John Locke	1690	The nourishment and education of their children is a charge so incumbent on parents for their children's good, that nothing can absolve them from taking care of it: and though the power of commanding and chastising them go along with it, yet God hath woven into the principles of human nature such a tenderness for their off-spring, that there is little fear that parents should use their power with too much rigour; the excess is seldom on the severe side, the strong byass of nature drawing the other way. (Second Treatise of Government)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Civil Liberties	Colombia	Prosecutors are appealing the decision of a Valledupar judges to absolve suspected paramilitaries Rodolfo Nelson Rosado Hernandez (alias "El Pichi") and Jorge Eliecer Espinal Velasquez ("El Parce") for the 1999 murder of newspaper editor Guzman Quintero Torres in Valledupar, Cesar department. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Absolve" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 78.57% of the time. "Absolve" is used about 42 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	78.57%	33	60,273
Lexical Verb (base form)	21.43%	9	117,287
Total	100.00%	42	N/A

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "absolve"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		vergeef (forgive, pardon), begenadig (amnesty, forgive, pardon). (various references)

Albanian		shfajësoj (acquit, defend, exculpate, exonerate, justify, purge, vindicate, whitewash), çliroj nga një detyrim. (various references)

Arabic		‏غفر (condone, excuse, forgive, pardon, remit), ‏عفا (efface, excuse, exempt, forgive, frank, pardon). (various references)

Bulgarian		опрощавам (condone, forgive, loose, pardon, release, remit), прощавам (excuse, forgive, overlook, pardon). (various references)

Chinese		赦免 (Absolution, Absolved, Absolving, Acquit, Acquitted, Acquitting, Amnestied, Amnestying, Clemency, Condone, Condoned, Condoning). (various references)

Czech		zprostit viny (acquit, exonerate), zprostit coho viny, dát rozhřešení komu. (various references)

Danish		tilgive (forgive, pardon). (various references)

Dutch		absolveren (acquit), absolutie geven (acquit). (various references)

Esperanto		absolvi. (various references)

Faeroese		umbera (excuse, forgive, pardon), fyrigeva (acquit, forgive, pardon). (various references)

Farsi		پاک کردن (Clean, Cleanse, Efface, Erase, Mop, Obliterate, Purge, Purify, Rub, Sancify, Scour, Scrape, Sublimate, Ventilate, Wash, Winnow, Wipe), مبراکردن (Exonerate), کسی راازگناه بری کردن , کسی راازانجام تعهدی معاف ساختن , عفوکردن (Forgive), امرزیدن (Forgive, Remit), اعلام بی تقصیری کردن , بری الذمه کردن . (various references)

Finnish		antaa anteeksi (forgive, pardon). (various references)

French		absoudre. (various references)

Frisian		ferjaan (forgive, pardon), begnedigje (forgive, pardon). (various references)

German		freisprechen (acquit, exculpate, exonerate, qualify), verzeihen (condone, excuse, forgive, pardon, to condone, to pardon), lossprechen (acquit), entbinden (acquit, be in labour, deliver, exonerate, give birth, labour, release, untie), absolvieren (acquit, complete, finish, graduate, graduation, pass). (various references)

Greek		απαλλάσσω (acquit, deliver, excuse, exempt, exonerate, extricate, relieve, rid). (various references)

Hebrew		למחול (forgive, palliate, pardon, remit, renounce). (various references)

Hungarian		feloldoz (to absolve, to justify, to undo, undid, undone), felment (exempt from, exonerate, quit, release, to absolve, to acquit, to clear, to exculpate, to excuse, to exempt, to exonerate, to justify, to liberate, to release, to succour). (various references)

Icelandic		veita aflausn (acquit), sýkna (acquit), fyrirgefa (acquit, forgive, pardon). (various references)

Indonesian		memberi ampun, membebaskan (acquit, acquitted, divest, emancipate, enfranchise, free, set free). (various references)

Italian		assolvere (accomplish, acquit, discharge, exculpate, shrive). (various references)

Malay		mengampuni (forgive, pardon). (various references)

Manx		seyrey (absolution, acquit, acquittal, affranchise, affranchisement, clear, clear from guilt, deliver, discharge, disembarrass, disencumber; exploit; clearing, disengage, dismiss, dismissal, disoblige, dispensation; exploitation, ease, emancipate, emancipation, enfranchise, exempt, exemption, exonerate, exoneration, free, justification, justify, liberate, liberation, purge, release, relieve, riddance, vindication, vindication act of), maihaghey (amortize; amortization, condone, excuse, forgive, forgiving, let off, pardon, pardoning), leih (absolution, excuse, forgive, forgiveness, forgiving, pardon, remission), feayshil. (various references)

Norwegian		tilgi (forgive, pardon). (various references)

Papiamen		pordoná (forgive, pardon). (various references)

Pig Latin		absolveay.(various references)

Polish		przebaczać. (various references)

Portuguese		absolver (acquit, exculpate, forgiven). (various references)

Romanian		ierta (acquit, allow, apologize, condone, excuse, forgive, pardon, permit, remise, remit, shrive, spare). (various references)

Russian		прощать (condone, excuse, forgave, forgive, forgiven, overlook, release, remit). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		osloboditi (acquit, affranchise, deliver, disembarrass, disengage, exculpate, exempt, free, let loose, let off, liberate, make free, release, relieve, rid, set free, unbind, unleash, unloose, unyoke, vindicate), oprostiti (condone, forgive, pardon, remit). (various references)

Spanish		absolver (absolving, acquit, clear, discharge, let off, release). (various references)

Sranan		gi pardon (forgive, pardon). (various references)

Swedish		frikänna (acquit, exonerate, find not guilty). (various references)

Turkish		affetmek (condone, dismiss, excuse, forgive, pardon, release, remit). (various references)

Ukranian		виправдувати (authorize, justify, warrant), звільняти (acquit, affranchise, avoid, bag, cashier, clear, defecate, disband, disencumber, disengage, dismiss, ease, eject, emancipate, enfranchise, exempt, exonerate, free, let out, loose, manumit, purify, release, remit, rescue, rid, set free, supersede, unfetter, unshackle, untie, vacate), прощати (amnesty, excuse, overlook, pardon, remit). (various references)

Welsh		absolfennu, rhyddhau (acquit, free, liberate, release), maddau (forgive, pardon, remit), gollwng (broach, discharge, dismiss, drop, leak, let go, loose). (various references)

Zulu		-xolela (forgive, pardon). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	absolvere, excusare, excusatus, excusaverunt, excusemus, excussio, libera, liberabat, liberaberis, liberabis, liberabit, liberabitur, liberabo, liberabunt, liberabuntur, liberandum, liberans, liberant, liberantem, liberantur, liberarat, liberare, liberarem, liberarent, liberaret, liberaretur, liberari, liberas, liberassem, liberasti, liberastis, liberat, liberata, liberate, liberati, liberato, liberator, liberatus, liberaverit, liberaverunt, liberavi, liberavit, liberavitque, liberem, liberemini, liberemur, liberent, liberentur, liberer, liberes, liberet, libero. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "absolve": absolved, absolver, absolvers, absolves. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Absolve" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Abessole, abolie, Absolue, Absolvo, Ambesol, asove, assolve, obsolve. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "absolve" (pronounced ubzÄ"lv or abzÄ"lv)
4	-z Ä" l v	dissolve, resolve.
3	-Ä" l v	devolve, evolve, involve, revolve, solve.
4	-z Ä" l v	dissolve, resolve.
3	-Ä" l v	devolve, evolve, involve, revolve, solve.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-b-e-l-o-s-v"
	-1 letter: aboves, loaves.
	-2 letters: ables, above, aloes, bales, blase, bolas, boles, laevo, laves, lobes, loves, oaves, ovals, sable, salve, salvo, selva, slave, soave, solve, vales, valse, veals, voles.
	-3 letters: able, abos, albs, ales, aloe, also, aves, avos, bale, bals, base, bels, blae, boas, bola, bole, labs, lase, lave, lavs, leas, leva, levo, lobe, lobs, lose, love, obes, olea, oles, oval, sabe, sale, save, seal, slab, slob, sloe, sola, sole, vale, vase, veal, vela, voes, vole.
	-4 letters: abo, abs, alb, ale, als, ave, avo, bal, bas, bel, boa, bos, els, lab, las, lav, lea, lev, lob, obe, oes, ole, ose, ova, sab, sae, sal, sea, sel, sob, sol, vas, voe.
	-5 letters: ab, ae, al, as, ba, be, bo, el, es, la, lo, oe, os, so.
	Words containing the letters "a-b-e-l-o-s-v"
	+1 letter: absolved, absolver, absolves, lavaboes, movables, solvable, vocables.
	+2 letters: absolvers, bloviates, bolivares, moveables.
	+3 letters: absolutive, boulevards, immovables, insolvable, observable, observably, overlabors, resolvable, unsolvable.
	+4 letters: conversable, disavowable, disprovable, dissolvable, labiovelars, lovableness, movableness, observables, observantly, subvocalize, vibratoless, volleyballs.
	+5 letters: discoverable, irresolvable, lovabilities, movabilities, overbalances, overbleaches, provableness, subvocalized, subvocalizes, unobservable, unresolvable, violableness, vocabularies, voidableness.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.