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PlainSpell

exonerate

ex·o·ner·ate/ɪɡˈzɑnəˌɹeɪt/verb

exonerate is spelled E-X-O-N-E-R-A-T-E, 4 syllables: ex·o·ner·ate. The wrong spelling people search most is exhonorate: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 37 of all searches for the word. Exonerate is a verb meaning “To free (someone) from an obligation, responsibility or task”.

How many letters and syllables are in exonerate?

Letters9: E-X-O-N-E-R-A-T-E
Syllables4: ex·o·ner·ate
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 46,473rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched2; the most searched, exhonorate, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them)

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How do you spell exonerate?

Exonerate is spelled E-X-O-N-E-R-A-T-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 19 of the searches for exonerate in either form.

exoneratethe right spelling730 searches a month
exhonoratean extra h, o in place of e20 searches a month
exonorateo in place of e20 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is exonerate?

Exonerate appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 46,473rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce exonerate?

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

Exonerate has 4 syllables, split ex·o·ner·ate in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-exonerate.ogg, En-au-exonerate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of exonerate

  • exonerates present, singular, he/she/it
  • exonerating participle, present
  • exonerated participle, past
  • more exonerate comparative
  • most exonerate superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does exonerate mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    archaicTo relieve (someone or something) of a load; to unburden (a load).

  2. 2

    obsoleteOf a body of water: to discharge or empty (itself).

  3. 3

    To free (someone) from an obligation, responsibility or task.

  4. 4

    To free (someone) from accusation or blame.

adjective

  1. 1

    archaicFreed from an obligation; freed from accusation or blame; acquitted, exonerated.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Exonerate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchexonérer (to relieve (someone or something) of a load; to…)
Germanerleichtern (to relieve (someone or something) of a load; to…), ausleeren, entleeren, abfließen (of a body of water: to discharge or empty…), abnehmen, befreien (to free from an obligation, responsibility or…)
Portuguesealiviar (to relieve (someone or something) of a load; to…), esvaziar (of a body of water: to discharge or empty…), exonerar (to free from an obligation, responsibility or…)
Spanishexonerar (to free from an obligation, responsibility or…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does exonerate come 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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after exonerate