Word.ws English Dictionary

absolver

US/æbˈzɑl.vɚ/

absolver is the agent noun of absolve.

Meaning of absolve

Verb

absolve (third-person singular simple present absolves, present participle absolving, simple past and past participle absolved)

  1. (transitive) To set free, release or discharge (from obligations, debts, responsibility etc.).
    • You will absolve a subject from his allegiance.
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To resolve; to explain; to solve.
    • […] he that can monsters tame, laboures atchive, riddles absolve […]1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 331-332
  3. (transitive) To pronounce free from or give absolution for a penalty, blame, or guilt.
    • A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor.1993, Rick Priestley, Andy Chambers, Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook, Second edition, Games Workshop, page 22
  4. (transitive) To pronounce not guilty; to grant a pardon for.
    • Abſolves the juſt, and dooms the guilty ſouls.1725, Homer, “Book XI”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume III, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 121, line 702
    Synonyms:
    amnesty, forgive, remit
  5. (transitive) To grant a remission of sin; to give absolution to.
    • To make confession and to be absolved.1597, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act 3, scene 5
    Synonyms:
    shrive
  6. (transitive) To remit a sin; to give absolution for a sin.
    • In his name I abſolve your perjury and ſanctify your arms: follow my footſteps in the paths of glory and ſalvation; and if ſtill ye have ſcruples, devolve on my head the puniſhment and the ſin.1788, Edward Gibbon, chapter LXVII, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume VI, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 447
    Synonyms:
    remit

See all 8 meanings of absolve

Forms of absolver

pluralabsolvers

Origin of absolver

From absolve + -er.

Questions about absolver

What is absolver the agent noun of?
Absolver is the agent noun of absolve.
How do you pronounce absolver?
Absolver is pronounced /æbˈzɑl.vɚ/ (US).

Words near absolver in the dictionary

  1. absolved
  2. absolvement
  3. absolvements
  4. absolvent
  5. absolvents
  6. absolver
  7. absolvers
  8. absolves
  9. absolvest
  10. absolveth
  11. absolving

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: absolver (page history and authors); absolve (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-absolver.wav.

Cite this entry: “absolver.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/absolver. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.