Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Vindicate

Vin′di·cate (·kāt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Vindicated; p. pr. & vb. n. Vindicating.] [L. vindicatus, p. p. of vindicare to lay claim to, defend, avenge. See Vengeance.] 1. To lay claim to; to assert a right to; to claim. [R.]

Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain? The birds of heaven shall vindicate their grain. Pope.

2. To maintain or defend with success; to prove to be valid; to assert convincingly; to sustain against assault; as, to vindicate a right, claim, or title.

3. To support or maintain as true or correct, against denial, censure, or objections; to defend; to justify.

When the respondent denies any proposition, the opponent must directly vindicate . . . that proposition. I. Watts.

Laugh where we must, be candid where we can, But vindicate the ways of God to man. Pope.

4. To maintain, as a law or a cause, by overthrowing enemies. Milton.

5. To liberate; to set free; to deliver. [Obs.]

I am confident he deserves much more That vindicates his country from a tyrant Than he that saves a citizen. Massinger.

6. To avenge; to punish; as, a war to vindicate or punish infidelity. [Obs.] Bacon.

God is more powerful to exact subjection and to vindicate rebellion. Bp. Pearson.

Syn. — To assert; maintain; claim. See Assert.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.