Definition of pardon

• v. t. - The act of pardoning; forgiveness, as of an offender, or of an offense; release from penalty; remission of punishment; absolution.
• v. t. - An official warrant of remission of penalty.
• v. t. - The state of being forgiven.
• v. t. - A release, by a sovereign, or officer having jurisdiction, from the penalties of an offense, being distinguished from amenesty, which is a general obliteration and canceling of a particular line of past offenses.
• v. t. - To absolve from the consequences of a fault or the punishment of crime; to free from penalty; -- applied to the offender.
• v. t. - To remit the penalty of; to suffer to pass without punishment; to forgive; -- applied to offenses.
• v. t. - To refrain from exacting as a penalty.
• v. t. - To give leave (of departure) to.