absolve

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
12
Words With Friends
15
Letters
7
Pronunciation
/əbˈzɒlv/(UK)
See all 6 pronunciations
/əbˈzɒlv/(UK) · /æbˈzɑlv/(US) · /-ˈsɑlv/(US) · /əbˈ-/(US) · /-ˈsɔlv/(US) · /-ˈzɔlv/(US)

Definition of absolve

8 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

verb

  1. (transitive)To set free, release or discharge (from obligations, debts, responsibility etc.).
    “You will absolve a subject from his allegiance.”
    “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.”
    “The Committee divided, and Halifax was absolved by a majority of fourteen.”
See all 8 definitions

verb

  1. (transitive)To set free, release or discharge (from obligations, debts, responsibility etc.).
    “You will absolve a subject from his allegiance.”
    “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.”
    “The Committee divided, and Halifax was absolved by a majority of fourteen.”
  2. (obsolete, transitive)To resolve; to explain; to solve.
    “1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 331-332, […] he that can monsters tame, laboures atchive, riddles absolve […]”
    “we ſhall not abſolve the doubt.”
  3. (transitive)To pronounce free from or give absolution for a penalty, blame, or guilt.
    “A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor.”
  4. (transitive)To pronounce not guilty; to grant a pardon for.
    “Abſolves the juſt, and dooms the guilty ſouls.”
  5. (transitive)To grant a remission of sin; to give absolution to.
    “To make confession and to be absolved.”
  6. (transitive)To remit a sin; to give absolution for a sin.
    “In his name I abſolve your perjury and ſanctify your arms: follow my footſteps in the paths of glory and ſalvation; and if ſtill ye have ſcruples, devolve on my head the puniſhment and the ſin.”
  7. (obsolete, transitive)To finish; to accomplish.
    “and the work begun, how ſoon / Abſolv'd,”
  8. (transitive)To pass a course or test; to gain credit for a class; to qualify academically.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

First attested in the early 15th century. From Middle English absolven, from Latin absolvere (“set free, acquit”), from ab (“away from”) + solvō (“loosen, free, release”). Doublet of assoil.

Words you can make from absolve

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6-letter words

1 word

5-letter words

26 words

4-letter words

50 words

3-letter words

36 words

2-letter words

14 words

Hooks

3 extensions · 3 back

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