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vindicate

vin·di·cate/ˈvɪndɪˌkeɪ̯t/verb

vindicate is a verb meaning “To clear of an accusation, suspicion or criticism” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled V-I-N-D-I-C-A-T-E and has 3 syllables (vin·di·cate), and it appears about once in every 3 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).

What does vindicate mean?

verb

  1. 1

    To clear of an accusation, suspicion or criticism.

    to vindicate someone's honor

  2. 2

    To justify by providing evidence.

    to vindicate a right, claim or title

  3. 3

    To maintain or defend (a cause) against opposition.

    to vindicate the rights of labor movement in developing countries

  4. 4

    To be proven reasonable, correct, or justified.

  5. 5

    To provide justification for.

    The violent history of the suspect vindicated the use of force by the police.

  6. 6

    To lay claim to; to assert a right to; to claim.

  7. 7

    obsoleteTo liberate; to set free; to deliver.

  8. 8

    obsoleteTo avenge; to punish.

    a war to vindicate infidelity

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

How do you pronounce vindicate?

  • /ˈvɪndɪˌkeɪ̯t/
  • [ˈvɪndɪˌkʰeɪ̯t]

Vindicate has 3 syllables, split vin·di·cate in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-vindicate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of vindicate

  • vindicates present, singular, he/she/it
  • vindicating participle, present
  • vindicated participle, past

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

How common is vindicate?

Vindicate appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 50,539th 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).

Vindicate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchblanchir (to clear from an accusation, suspicion or…), faire valoir (to justify by providing evidence), défendre, revendiquer, affirmer (to maintain or defend a cause against opposition), justifier (to provide justification)
Germanrechtfertigen, verteidigen, reinwaschen, rehabilitieren, entlasten (to clear from an accusation, suspicion or…), beweisen (to justify by providing evidence)
Spanishvindicar (to clear from an accusation, suspicion or…), defender (to maintain or defend a cause against opposition), justificar (to provide justification), reclamar (to claim)

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 vindicate come from?

Borrowed from Latin vindicātus, perfect passive participle of vindicō (“lay legal claim to something; set free; protect, avenge, punish”), from vim, accusative singular of vīs (“force, power”), + dīcō (“say; declare, state”). See avenge.

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