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exonerate

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exonerate¹

  • /ɪɡˈzɒnəɹeɪt/ UK
  • /ɛɡ-/ UK
  • /ɪɡˈzɑnəˌɹeɪt/ US
  • /ɛɡ-/ US

Where it comes from

From Middle English exoneraten (attested in past participle exonerated), from Latin exonerātus, past perfect participle of exonerō (“to discharge, unload; to exonerate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Exonerō is from ex- (“out, from”) + onerō (“to burden, lade; to load”) further from onus (oner-) (“a burden, load”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃énh₂os (“burden, load”), from *h₃enh₂- (“to charge, onerate”). Compare French exonérer.

verb exonerates · exonerating · exonerated

  1. archaic, transitive To relieve (someone or something) of a load; to unburden (a load).
  2. obsolete, reflexive Of a body of water: to discharge or empty (itself). I would examine the Caſpian Sea, and ſee where and how it exonerates it ſelfe, after it hath taken in Volga, Iaxares, Oxus, and thoſe great rivers; at the mouth of Oby, or where?
  3. transitive To free (someone) from an obligation, responsibility or task.
  4. transitive To free (someone) from accusation or blame.

exonerate²

  • /ɪɡˈzɒnəɹeɪt/ UK
  • /ɛɡ-/ UK
  • /ɪɡˈzɑnəˌɹeɪt/ US
  • /ɛɡ-/ US

Where it comes from

Learned borrowing from Latin exonerātus (more at etymology 1), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

adjective more exonerate · most exonerate

  1. archaic Freed from an obligation; freed from accusation or blame; acquitted, exonerated.

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