exculpate

You need not take the blame if you're unfamiliar with the origins of "exculpate," but there's a hint in this sentence. The word, which was adopted in the late 17th century from Medieval Latin exculpatus, traces back to the Latin noun culpa, meaning "blame." Some other descendants of "culpa" in English include "culpable" ("meriting condemnation or blame") and "inculpate" ("incriminate"), as well as the considerably rarer "culpatory" ("accusing") and "disculpate" (a synonym of "exculpate"). You may also be familiar with the borrowed Latin phrase mea culpa, which translates directly as "through my fault" and is used in English to mean "a formal acknowledgment of personal fault or error."