Vindicating

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Removing doubt or blame by providing evidence that someone is innocent or correct ; demonstrating that an action, idea, or person is justified or deserves support
2. Defending or exonerating a person or claim by proving its correctness or innocence ; establishing the truth or validity of a position or belief
3. Exculpating someone by proving they were not at fault ; confirming that a stance or decision is well-founded and reasonable

Etymology: "Vindicating" is the present participle of "vindicate", and the verb carries a legal idea in its roots: Latin "vindicare" meant to lay formal claim to something, or to set a person free by asserting a right over them. Its parts are "vim", the accusative of "vis" (force or power), and "dicere" (to say or declare). So the original sense is closer to "declaring with authority" than to proving anyone right. The word reached English as a borrowing from the Latin past participle "vindicatus", and for centuries it kept its legal flavour, meaning to defend a claim or assert a right. The move to the modern sense, to clear someone's name or show that they were correct, grew out of that idea of formally asserting a claim. The same Latin root also gave English "vindictive" and "vengeance" through different routes, which is why the words share a sense of asserting one's side forcefully.

Synonyms: justifying, absolving, exonerating, defending, supporting

Antonyms: condemning, accusing, blaming, discrediting, criminalizing