Vendication

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act or process of proving that someone or something is justified, right, or free from blame
2. A demonstration or defense that establishes the truth or correctness of a claim or person
3. The effort or action taken to justify, excuse, or prove innocence or correctness

Etymology: "Vendication" is a real but rare English noun, and its history runs through a single Latin verb, "vindicare," meaning "to claim" or "to lay legal claim to." Its Latin noun form, "vendicatio," meant "claiming," and the word reached English by way of French, where a related form, "vendication," carried the same sense of asserting a right to something. The word is a close relative of the more familiar "vindication," which shares the same Latin root and is far more common. Both descend from "vindicare," but "vindication" follows the later spelling that stabilised in English, while "vendication" preserves a spelling closer to the Latin "vendicatio." Because the two forms have run side by side for centuries, English speakers today tend to treat "vendication" as a variant that has mostly been overtaken by its cousin.

Synonyms: justification, defense, exoneration, vindication

Antonyms: accusation, blame