Word of the Day

: February 7, 2024

absolve

verb ub-ZAHLV

What It Means

To absolve someone is to free them from a responsibility or commitment, or from the consequences of guilt.

// The plaintiff asserts that the company is not absolved of responsibility for the false claims simply because its ownership has changed.

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absolve in Context

"'We chose these Five Common Reactions to Change because they're very prevalent and they help illustrate a spectrum of change reactions from individuals,' Curtis [Bateman, author] says. 'It's important to highlight that no reaction is right or wrong at the start of the change. We're all human. But that doesn't absolve us of responsibility regarding the choices we make from that point forward.'" — Rodger Dean Duncan, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2023

Did You Know?

The act of absolving can be seen as releasing someone from blame or sin, or "loosening" the hold that responsibility or guilt has on a person, which provides a hint about the word's origins. Absolve was adopted into Middle English in the 15th century from the Latin verb absolvere ("to release, acquit, finish, complete"), formed by combining the prefix ab- ("from, away, off") with solvere, meaning "to loosen." Absolve also once had additional senses of "to finish or accomplish" and "to resolve or explain," but these are now obsolete. Solvere is also the ancestor of the English words solve, dissolve, resolve, solvent, and solution.