ABSOLVE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Absolve

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/əbzˈɑlv/ /æbzˈɑlv/ Listen

verb

Absolve v. t. (past & past part. absolved; pres. part. absolving)

To set free, or release, as from some obligation, debt, or responsibility, or from the consequences of guilt or such ties as it would be sin or guilt to violate; to pronounce free; as, to absolve a subject from his allegiance; to absolve an offender, which amounts to an acquittal and remission of his punishment. "Halifax was absolved by a majority of fourteen."

To free from a penalty; to pardon; to remit (a sin); said of the sin or guilt. "In his name I absolve your perjury."

To finish; to accomplish. (Obs.) "The work begun, how soon absolved."

To resolve or explain. (Obs.) "We shall not absolve the doubt."

Synonyms: To Absolve, Exonerate, Acquit. We speak of a man as absolved from something that binds his conscience, or involves the charge of wrongdoing; as, to absolve from allegiance or from the obligation of an oath, or a promise. We speak of a person as exonerated, when he is released from some burden which had rested upon him; as, to exonerate from suspicion, to exonerate from blame or odium. It implies a purely moral acquittal. We speak of a person as acquitted, when a decision has been made in his favor with reference to a specific charge, either by a jury or by disinterested persons; as, he was acquitted of all participation in the crime.

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Etymology of 'Absolve'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Absolve" Quotes from Famous Books

... alive," he said, looking up after an examination. "The bullet struck him in the chest. With proper attention he will recover." He approached Chester and held out his hand. "I regret this unpleasant incident exceedingly," he said. "I trust you will absolve us ...

— The Boy Allies in the Trenches - Midst Shot and Shell Along the Aisne • Clair Wallace Hayes

... that the priest professes to forgive us our sins. The words of the Absolution in the Visitation of the Sick, in our own Prayer Book, put the matter on its true footing:—"Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath left power to His Church to absolve, ... forgive thee ... and by His authority ... I absolve thee." The source of all pardon and the right to exercise it rest in God alone, but the message declaring the fact is part of the "ministry of reconciliation," committed, in the infinite condescension ...

— The Discipline of War - Nine Addresses on the Lessons of the War in Connection with Lent • John Hasloch Potter

... sought, and not from the governors. Since your Lordship wished to be master when you should have been pupil, you could not avoid falling into the difficulties into which you have fallen in this letter, as you say that you do not know whether the bishop can order that all the confessors should not absolve in this or that case. It is almost a matter of course that the bishop may reserve cases, when that may seem best to him; and it is an amusing thing that your Lordship sets about declaring to me when the confessors are to reserve the cases and when they are not to do so. I am astonished, ...

— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume VIII (of 55), 1591-1593 • Emma Helen Blair

... Jesus Christ, who hath left power to His Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in Him, of His great mercy forgive thee thine offences; and by His authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the ...

— Apologia Pro Vita Sua • John Henry Cardinal Newman

... organized, as is ignorantly said, for the suppression of reason. They were organized for the difficult defence of reason. Man, by a blind instinct, knew that if once things were wildly questioned, reason could be questioned first. The authority of priests to absolve, the authority of popes to define the authority, even of inquisitors to terrify: these were all only dark defences erected round one central authority, more undemonstrable, more supernatural than all—the authority of a man to think. We know now that this is so; we have no excuse for not knowing ...

— Orthodoxy • G. K. Chesterton

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