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Jun 14, 2012
This week's theme
Verbs

This week's words
ratiocinate
redound
daunt
exculpate
perdure

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

exculpate

PRONUNCIATION:
(EK-skuhl-payt, ek-SKUHL-)

MEANING:
verb tr.: To clear of guilt or blame.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin ex- (from) + culpa (blame). Earliest documented use: 1656.

USAGE:
"It did not exculpate a killer from responsibility, but it did save them from the gallows."
A Provocation to Change; The Age (Melbourne, Australia); Sep 24, 2003.

See more usage examples of exculpate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The vine that has grown old on an old tree falls with the ruin of that tree and through that bad companionship must perish with it. -Leonardo da Vinci, painter, engineer, musician, and scientist (1452-1519)

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