Amnesty

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈæm.nɪ.sti/

Definitions

1. An official pardon granted by a government that releases people from punishment for crimes, typically for political offenses or during times of transition
2. A formal governmental decision to forgive individuals for offenses, especially political ones, often implemented during periods of social healing or change
3. A government act that forgives people of crimes, often political, releasing them from legal penalties

Etymology: The Greek root of "amnesty" meant forgetting on purpose. Ancient Greek "amnēstía" combined the negative prefix "a-" with "mnēstis," a word tied to memory, so the literal sense was something like "a not-remembering." The Greeks used it for a deliberate decision to put past wrongs out of mind, most famously after civil strife, when a city agreed not to bring old quarrels back up. The word reached English by way of Middle French "amnestie" and then the modern French "amnistie," which kept the sense of a state pardon for political offences. Its path into English is less a matter of everyday speech than of formal politics, and the word still carries that official flavour. Its sense has stayed close to the Greek idea: the state chooses to forget.

Synonyms: pardon, forgiveness, absolution, reprieve, exoneration

Antonyms: punishment, penalty, retribution, censure, condemnation