Word of the Day

: April 3, 2022

exculpate

verb EK-skull-payt

What It Means

Exculpate means "to clear from alleged fault or guilt."

// The lawyer claimed to have recently discovered evidence that would exculpate her client.

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exculpate in Context

"Napoleon's admirers exculpate the emperor by pointing to his transformation of civic life in France. They say that the 1804 Napoleonic Code deserves to be seen alongside other celebrated civic texts, such as the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence." — Leo Cendrowicz, inews.co.uk, 16 Apr. 2021

Did You Know?

Exculpate is the joining of the prefix ex-, meaning "not," and the Latin noun culpa, meaning "blame." Readers may be familiar with the 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."