Word.ws English Dictionary

disculpate

UK[ˈdɪskʌɫpeɪt]

disculpate verb: to free from blame or the imputation of a fault; to exonerate.

Verb

disculpate (third-person singular simple present disculpates, present participle disculpating, simple past and past participle disculpated)

  1. (transitive) To free from blame or the imputation of a fault; to exonerate.
    • He […] endeavoured to disculpate the youth, and left no method untried to soften the tyrant's rage.1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, section II

Synonyms of disculpate

All synonyms of disculpate

Forms of disculpate

third-person singular presentdisculpates
present participledisculpating
past participledisculpated
pastdisculpated

Origin of disculpate

Borrowed from Medieval Latin disculpātus, perfect passive participle of disculpō (“to disculpate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from dis- (“off”, denoting the ending of an action) + culpō (“to blame”), from culpa (“fault”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of disculp.

Questions about disculpate

What does disculpate mean?
Disculpate means to free from blame or the imputation of a fault; to exonerate.
What part of speech is disculpate?
Disculpate is a verb.
How do you pronounce disculpate?
Disculpate is pronounced [ˈdɪskʌɫpeɪt] (UK).
What is the past tense of disculpate?
The past tense of disculpate is disculpated.

Words near disculpate in the dictionary

  1. discstones
  2. disct
  3. discts
  4. discubitory
  5. disculp
  6. disculpate
  7. disculpated
  8. disculpates
  9. disculpating
  10. disculpation
  11. disculpations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: disculpate (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.

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