Other forms: vindicated, vindicating, vindicates
To vindicate is to clear somebody, or to show a decision was right. Vindicated by the inquiry, vindicate his stand, feel vindicated.
It is nearly always passive and always comes after doubt, which is what makes being vindicated so different from simply being right. In law it also means to assert a claim successfully.
1verbvindicateTo clear somebody, or to show a decision was right.
“The new evidence vindicated her, proving she had told the truth all along.”
vindicate is a clearing.
Latin vindicare means to claim or avenge, from vindex, a claimant or protector.
Proto-Indo-European
*weyh₁-
Latin
vindicātus
English, today
vindicate
Built from
Latin vindicātus, perfect passive participle of vindicō (“lay legal claim to something; set free; protect, avenge, punish”), from vim, accusative singular of vīs (“force, power”), + dīcō (“say; declare, state”). See avenge.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA