amnesty

[am-nuh-stee] /ˈæm nə sti/

noun, plural amnesties.

a general pardon for offenses, especially political offenses, against a government, often granted before any trial or conviction.

Law. an act of forgiveness for past offenses, especially to a class of persons as a whole.

a forgetting or overlooking of any past offense.

verb (used with object), amnestied, amnestying.

to grant amnesty to; pardon.

Origin

1570-80; (< Middle French amnestie) < Greek amnēstía oblivion, equivalent to ámnēst(os) forgetting (a- a-⁶ + mnēs- remember + -tos verbal adjective suffix) + -ia -y³

Synonyms

1. See pardon.

Examples from the web for amnesty

Now the government is working on an amnesty bill aimed at pardoning those jailed for political offences over the past few years.
The recording industry plans to announce an amnesty for people who admit to music file sharing and promise to stop.
The men, sentenced and convicted, were later released as part of a general amnesty.
The vote followed an outpouring of criticism from conservatives and others who decried it as a form of amnesty for lawbreakers.
For those who had applied for amnesty, today was a big step forward.
The telecom amnesty is really a small, teeny, tiny issue compared to everything else the country has to face right now.
Digital tools have eliminated that amnesty.
But the development authority is not eager to prosecute, so it announced an amnesty program yesterday.
Besides, under international law no amnesty is possible for war crimes .
On its own, an international tax amnesty won't resolve the credit crisis or repair the economy.

British Dictionary definitions for amnesty

amnesty

/ˈæmnɪstɪ/

noun (pl) -ties

a general pardon, esp for offences against a government

a period during which a law is suspended to allow offenders to admit their crime without fear of prosecution

(law) a pardon granted by the Crown or Executive and effected by statute

verb -ties, -tying, -tied

(transitive) to overlook or forget (an offence)

Word Origin

C16: from Latin amnēstia, from Greek: oblivion, from amnēstos forgetting, from a-1 + -mnēstos, from mnasthai to remember

Word Origin and History for amnesty

"pardon of past offenses," 1570s, from French amnestie "intentional overlooking," from Latin amnestia, from Greek amnestia "forgetfulness (of wrong); an amnesty," from a-, privative prefix, "not" (see a- (3)), + mnestis "remembrance," related to mnaomai "I remember" (see mind (n.)). As a verb, from 1809. Amnesty International founded 1961 as Appeal for Amnesty. The name was changed 1963.