Word
Of
The
Day
vindicate
vindicate \VIN-duh-kayt\
verb
To vindicate someone is to show that they are not guilty.
Vindicate can also mean “to show that someone or something that has been criticized or doubted is correct, true, or reasonable.”
// A series of testimonies helped
vindicate the defendant.
// Their much-maligned approach to the problem has now been
vindicated by these positive results.
See the entry >
Examples:
“He [Bob Dylan] never expressed embarrassment over the dismal commercial failure of his would-be cinematic masterpiece,
Renaldo and Clara, even after the film’s financers, Warner Bros., warned Dylan that the film’s nearly five hour running time would ensure its failure (which would prove true). Dylan insisted that the film needed every frame. And who knows, art history may
vindicate him.” — Ron Rosenbaum,
Bob Dylan: Things Have Changed, 2025
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