exonerate
adjEtymology Learned borrowing from Latin exonerātus (more at etymology 1), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix).
1
Archaic Freed from an obligation; freed from accusation or blame; acquitted, exonerated.
exonerate
verbUK /ɪɡˈzɒnəɹeɪt/ · US /ɪɡˈzɑnəˌɹeɪt/
Etymology 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.
1
Archaic To relieve (someone or something) of a load; to unburden (a load).
2
Obsolete 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?1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section ii, member 3, page 231:
3
To free (someone) from an obligation, responsibility or task.
4
To free (someone) from accusation or blame.
- Derived terms
- exonerable, exonerated, exonerative, exoneree
- Related terms
- exoneration, exonerator