The Collaborative International Dictionary
Vindicate \Vin"di*cate\, 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.]
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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. 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.
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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. To maintain, as a law or a cause, by overthrowing enemies.
--Milton.-
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. -
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.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of vindicate English)
Usage examples of "vindicating".
This was greeted by some as vindicating the corpuscular theory, but it turns out that the same result can be derived from wave considerations too, although not as simply.
A mighty naval power at the head of the whole—that power, a parent state with all the endearing sentiments attending to the relationship—that could never disoblige, but with design—the dependent states more apt to have feuds among themselves—she the umpire and controuler—those states producing every article neccesary to her greatness—their interest, that she should continue free and flourishing—their ability to throw a considerable weight in the scale, should her government get unduly poised—she and all those states Protestant—are some of the circumstances, that delineated by the masterly hand of a Beccaria, would exhibit a plan, vindicating the ways of heaven and demonstrating, that humanity and policy are nearly related.
Pointing to successful applications of technology such as computers and the space telescope as vindicating any theory of "science," as if they were all products of the same method, is to claim false credentials.
The one hope left for me was the hope that she might have overlooked something in the chain of evidence—some mere trifle, perhaps, which might nevertheless, under careful investigation, be made the means of vindicating my innocence in the end.