Other forms: exonerated, exonerating, exonerates
To exonerate is to clear somebody of blame. Fully exonerated, exonerate the crew, the report exonerates him.
It is stronger than acquit, since acquittal only says the case was not proved and exoneration says the person did not do it. The Latin behind it means to unload a burden, which is a fair description of what a clearing report does.
1verbexonerateTo clear somebody of blame.
“New DNA evidence exonerated the man after he had spent twenty years in prison.”
exonerate is a clearing.
Latin exonerare means to unload — ex, off, plus onus, a burden. Onerous is a relative.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₃enh₂-
Proto-Indo-European
*h₃énh₂os — burden, load
Latin
exonerātus
Middle English
exoneraten
English, today
exonerate
Built from
From Middle English exoneraten (attested in past participle exonerated), from Latin exonerātus, past perfect participle of exonerō (“to discharge, unload; to exonerate”), see -ate. Exonerō is from ex- + onerō further from onus (oner-) + -ō, from Proto-Indo-European h₃énh₂os (“burden, load”), from h₃enh₂- (“to charge, onerate”). Compare French exonérer.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA