Does 'Exonerate' Mean What We Think It Means?

Like many politicians, President Trump has a knack for seizing on certain words and phrases that he thinks will strike a chord with the public. And in the days since Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report was delivered to the U.S. Justice Department, he has adopted a new favorite: exonerate.

Given that the word has a legal ring to it, we wondered whether the word means what he thinks it means.

The answer is no. And yes.

"There are ... two legal conceptions of the term 'exonerate,'" explained WGBH Legal Analyst Daniel Medwed, a professor of law and justice at Northeastern University.

"One is semi-legal, to characterize someone who’s been freed from prison on grounds consistent with innocence," Medwed said. The other, a more formal definition, is used in "compensation statutes and in certain bail laws."

It's pretty clear, Medwed added, that since the president has not been charged with a crime, he cannot technically be exonerated. In other words, Trump, pundits, supporters and detractors, political operatives, headline writers and even Mueller himself are all using "exonerate" wrong, at least in its strict legal sense.

But plenty of legal terms are also used day-to-day in a more general sense. And if you've been around a radio or television at all since the Mueller investigation wrapped up, you've likely heard a few others tossed around.

Trump's lawyer, Rudy Guilliani, told Fox and Friends on March 25, "He’s been absolved, vindicated, exonerated, you pick the word."

So, how do we pick which — if any — of these words is the right one? The dictionary is a good place to start.

"We have to be careful with our terms," said Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster.

As a linguist, Sokolowski said that understanding a word’s roots can be highly instructive. So, let’s look at the roots of the words in question.

Exonerate
This one comes to English from Latin. The "ex" means “away” or “from.” And the "onorate" comes from the Latin word, "onus," a word we still use in English today.

"In Latin, [onus] literally meant weight," said Sokolowski. "So exonerate means to lift the weight from or to remove the weight of."

Absolve
Thank the Latin language, again, for the word absolve. The root word, "solvere," means "to release, loosen or untie."

"It means to pardon or to forgive a sin, or to set someone free from an obligation," said Sokolowski.

It also tends to be used in relation to matters of the conscience.

Vindicate
Can you guess which language brought us the word "vindicate?" Yes, Latin.

"There is something slightly different about vindicate," said Sokolowski. "Vindicate really comes from the Latin word [that] means 'to avenge.'"

Consider the related term — vindictive — which means “disposed to seek revenge.”

"It’s stronger than just innocent," explained Sokolowski. "It means, sort of, proven the other way. That there is some sort of complete and total turnaround in the circumstances."

"These are all slightly different terms that are used in slightly different contexts."

While not all strictly legal terms, all of these words do feel legal, and this is — at least in part — because it is the law that brought them all into the English language. When the French Normans conquered England back in the 11^th century, the English adopted its conqueror's legal system — including its Latin-based, old-French terminology.

"That’s why all of the legal language and, again, the governmental language in English is based on French," said Sokolowski. "It’s kind of an amazing historical context that had a linguistic consequence."

And there is, perhaps, a more critical similarity. Sokolowski said that all of these words imply a certain finality, as if the matter at hand — in this case the Mueller probe — has reached a definitive end.

"I think we all have to step back," he said. "No one has read the full report, and we haven't had a full accounting of it. We all know that this is not the end."

Sokolowski said that as we do learn more, should we ever be unsure of the precise meaning of any word, we shouldn’t hesitate to open our own investigation.