Origin: 1525–35; < Latinvindicātus (past participle of vindicāre to lay legal claim to (property), to free (someone) from servitude (by claiming him as free), to protect, avenge, punish), equivalent to vindic- (stem of vindex claimant, protector, avenger) + -ātus-ate1
Related forms
vin·di·ca·tor, noun
re·vin·di·cate, verb (used with object), re·vin·di·cat·ed, re·vin·di·cat·ing.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
1620s, "to avenge or revenge," from L. vindicatus, pp. of vindicare (see vindication). Meaning "to clear from censure or doubt, by means of demonstration" is recorded from 1630s. Related: Vindicated, vindicating.