From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishabsolveab‧solve /əbˈzɒlv $ -ɑːlv/ verb [transitive] 1 INNOCENT/NOT GUILTYto say publicly that someone is not guilty or responsible for somethingabsolve somebody from/of something He cannot be absolved of all responsibility for the accident.2 FORGIVEif someone is absolved by the Christian Church or a priest for something they have done wrong, they are formally forgiven → absolutionGrammar Absolve is often passive in this meaning.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
absolve• For Jason is proving, albeit from his grave, that death does not absolve bias.• For all that, the teacher can hardly be absolved from the attempt to clarify his own mind.• Oppenheimer seems to have absolved himself for lack of special expertise in ethics.• But there may be cases where the landlord absolves his tenant from performance in ways which release the other covenantors.• But now all of us have been absolved of ever considering it again.• He had provided a father-confessor figure to absolve the youngster's sins and absorb his phobias.Origin absolve (1400-1500) Latin absolvere, from ab- “away” + solvere “to loosen” 