These words all mean to clear of guilt or wrongdoing. Exonerate means to free from accusation or blame, and stresses freedom from future suspicion: The hearings before the subcommittee exonerated him from suspicion of complicity in the swindle. To absolve is to set free from obligation or penalty attaching to an act: The aircraft company was absolved from liability following the investigation of the disaster. To acquit is to set free from accusation, usually for lack of evidence, and often of a specific charge: to be acquitted of perjury.

• The motorist was acquitted of reckless driving; he was thereupon absolved from any claim for damages arising out of the collision.

Vindicate means to clear completely through the examination of evidence.

• The accused bookkeeper vindicated himself by producing bank statements; The testimony of witnesses vindicated the prisoner.

It may also refer to judgement which has been borne out by subsequent events: The judge’s minority dissent was finally vindicated in later years when the majority endorsed his arguments and reversed its former decision. Exculpate means to free from blame or prove innocent of guilt or fault. Unlike exonerate , it does not necessarily imply that a formal charge was made nor that the blameworthy act was illegal or illicit. It may apply to any culpable action: Investigation exculpated the driver from the suspicion of having caused the accident.