All 7 Uses
acquit
in
Sense and Sensibility
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- Sometimes she could believe Willoughby to be as unfortunate and as innocent as herself, and at others, lost every consolation in the impossibility of acquitting him.
Chpt 31 *acquitting = finding innocent (informal usage)
- Willoughby, "poor Willoughby," as she now allowed herself to call him, was constantly in her thoughts; she would not but have heard his vindication for the world, and now blamed, now acquitted herself for having judged him so harshly before.
Chpt 45acquitted = found blameless
- —I am happy—and he is acquitted.†
Chpt 15
- My feelings are at present in a state of dreadful indecision; I wish to acquit you, but certainty on either side will be ease to what I now suffer.†
Chpt 29
- Cruel, cruel—nothing can acquit you.†
Chpt 29
- "I have been more pained," said she, "by her endeavors to acquit him than by all the rest; for it irritates her mind more than the most perfect conviction of his unworthiness can do.†
Chpt 31
- I acquit Edward of essential misconduct.†
Chpt 37
Definitions:
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(1)
(acquit as in: she was acquitted) to officially find "not guilty" of criminal chargesBeing acquitted does not mean the court declared the person innocent. It simply means there was not enough evidence to prove guilt according to the law.
The amount of evidence required depends on the type of case. In a criminal case, where someone could go to prison, the prosecution must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt—a very high standard. In a civil case, a lawsuit usually about money, the plaintiff only needs to show that the defendant is responsible more likely than not—a much lower standard.
This is why the same person can be found "not guilty" in a criminal trial (their guilt was not proved beyond a reasonable doubt) but still be found guilty in a civil trial for the same actions (because their guilt was more likely than not). -
(2)
(acquit as in: she acquitted herself well) to handle oneself in a specified way -- which is typically in a positive way
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(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Much less commonly and archaically, acquit can have other meanings. It can mean to release from a duty, as when Jane Austen wrote "I cannot acquit him of that duty" in her novel, Pride and Prejudice.
It can also mean to perform or complete an obligation, as when Charles Dickens wrote "I have a business charge to acquit myself of," in his novel, A Tale of Two Cities.