Vindicate: meaning, example and synonyms
Vindicatev. To show someone or something to be right or justified after doubt or blame.
Example
The geologist's once-ridiculed theory was vindicated when deep-sea cores revealed exactly the sediment layers she had predicted.
- Part of speech
- verb
- Synonyms
- justify, exonerate, confirm, substantiate
- Antonyms
- discredit, refute, incriminate, disprove
- Memory tip
- Vindicate shares a root with avenge: wrongs set right.
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Check yourself: Vindicate in context
Long dismissed as a crank, the amateur astronomer was ______ when telescopes confirmed the faint comet he had reported a decade earlier.
Answer: vindicated. Confirmation proved the dismissed astronomer right: vindicated. Stymied, hampered (blocked) and debilitated (weakened) contradict a moment of confirmation.
The engineer hoped the independent inquiry would ______ her decision to halt the launch, which managers had called needlessly cautious.
Answer: vindicate. She hopes the inquiry will justify her decision: vindicate. Denounce (condemn) is the opposite of her hope; instigate (provoke) and debilitate (weaken) make no sense here.