absolve

Etymology

First attested in the early 15th Century. From Middle English absolven, from Latin absolvere, present active infinitive of absolvō (“set free, acquit”), from ab (“away from”) + solvō (“loosen, free, release”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əbˈzɒlv/
• (US) IPA^(key): /æbˈzɑlv/, /æbˈsɑlv/, /əbˈzɑlv/, /əbˈsɑlv/

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Verb

absolve (third-person singular simple present absolves, present participle absolving, simple past and past participle absolved)

1. (transitive) To set free, release or discharge (from obligations, debts, responsibility etc.). [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]^[1]

   You will absolve a subject from his allegiance.

   • 1855, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume III:

     Halifax was absolved by a majority of fourteen.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To resolve; to explain; to solve. [Attested from the late 15^th century until the mid 17^th century.]^[1]
   • 1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 331-332,

     […] he that can monsters tame, laboures atchive, riddles absolve […]

   • 1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica‎, page x:

     We shall not absolve the doubt.

3. (transitive) To pronounce free from or give absolution for a penalty, blame, or guilt. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]^[1]
4. (transitive, law) To pronounce not guilty; to grant a pardon for. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]^[1]
   • 1807, w:Alexander Pope, The Odyssey by Homer (English translation):

     Absolves the just, and dooms the guilty souls.

5. (transitive, theology) To grant a remission of sin; to give absolution to. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]^[1]
   • 1597, w:William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 5:

     To make confession and to be absolved.

6. (transitive, theology) To remit a sin; to give absolution for a sin. [First attested in the late 16^th century.]^[1]
   • 1782, Edward Gibbon, History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, volume VI:

     In his name I absolve your perjury and sanctify your arms.

7. (transitive, obsolete) To finish; to accomplish. [Attested from the late 16^th century until the early 19^th century.]^[1]
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
     , line 94

     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.

References

Verb

absolve

1. second-person singular present active imperative of absolvō

Verb

absolve

1. third-person singular present indicative of absolver
2. second-person singular imperative of absolver