acquittal

English

Alternative forms

• acquital (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

English acquit

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālisbor.

Old French -albor.

▲

Latin -ālis

Old French -elbor.

▲

Latin -ālisbor.

Middle English -al

English -al

English acquittal

From acquit + -al.

Pronunciation

• (without t-flapping) IPA^(key): /əˈkwɪtəl/, [əˈkwɪtʰəl] ~ [əˈkwɪtʰl̩]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (t-flapping) IPA^(key): /əˈkwɪɾəl/, [əˈkwɪɾəl] ~ [əˈkwɪɾl̩]
• Rhymes: -ɪtəl
• Hyphenation: ac‧qui‧tal

Noun

acquittal (countable and uncountable, plural acquittals)

1. (now rare) The act of fulfilling the duties (of a given role, obligation etc.). [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: completion, consummation, fulfilment, realization

2. (law) A legal decision that someone is not guilty with which they have been charged, or the formal dismissal of a charge by some other legal process. [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: acquittance, exoneration, quittance; see also Thesaurus:acquittal

   Antonyms: conviction, condemnation

   criminal acquittal

   absolute acquittal

   The jury returned a verdict of acquittal.

   His unexpected acquittal shocked the public.

3. Payment of a debt or other obligation; reparations, amends. [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: quittal, requital, satisfaction; see also Thesaurus:compensation

4. (historical) The act of releasing someone from debt or other obligation; acquittance. [from 15th c.]
5. (rare) Avoidance of danger; deliverance. [from 17th c.]

Derived terms

• nonacquittal
• postacquittal
• preacquittal

Related terms

• acquit

Translations

legal decision of not guilty

• Arabic: تَبْرِئَة (tabriʔa)
• Armenian: արդարացում (hy) (ardaracʻum)
• Belarusian: апраўда́нне n (aprawdánnje)
• Bulgarian: оправда́ване n (opravdávane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 宣告無罪 / 宣告无罪 (xuāngào wúzuì), 無罪開釋 / 无罪开释 (wúzuì kāishì)

• Danish: frikendelse c, frifindelse c
• Dutch: vrijspraak (nl) m or f
• Faroese: frídøming f
• Finnish: vapauttava tuomio, vapautus (fi)
• French: acquittement (fr) m, relaxe (fr) f
• German: Freispruch (de) m
• Hebrew: זיכוי (he) m (zi-kui)
• Hungarian: felmentés (hu), felmentő ítélet
• Icelandic: sýknudómur m
• Indonesian: bebas (id), pembebasan (id)
• Italian: assoluzione (it) f
• Japanese: 無罪判決 (むざいはんけつ, muzai hanketsu), 放免 (ja) (ほうめん, hōmen)
• Korean: 무죄 판결 (mujoe pan'gyeol), 무죄 선고 (mujoe seon'go)
• Malay: pembebasan (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: frifinnelse m, frifinnelsesdom, frikjennelse

  Nynorsk: frikjenning, frifinning, frikjennande dom

• Persian: برائت (fa) (barâ'at)
• Polish: uniewinnienie n
• Portuguese: absolvição (pt)
• Romanian: achitare (ro) f
• Russian: оправда́ние (ru) n (opravdánije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ослобађање

  Latin: oslobađanje (sh)

• Spanish: absolución (es) f
• Swedish: frikännande (sv) n, frikännande dom c
• Tagalog: pawalansala
• Ukrainian: ви́правдання n (výpravdannja)

payment of debt or other obligation

• Finnish: velan maksu
• Hungarian: teljesítés (hu), kártalanítás (hu), visszafizetés (hu)
• Polish: uiszczenie (pl) n, spłacenie n

acquittance from debt

• Danish: frikendelse c
• Finnish: mitätöinti (fi)
• French: acquittement (fr) m
• Polish: umorzenie (pl) n
• Russian: освобожде́ние (ru) n (osvoboždénije) (от долга, обязательств)