amnesty
/ˈæm.nɪ.sti/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.63 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An act of the sovereign power granting oblivion, or a general pardon, for a past offense, as to subjects concerned in an insurrection.
Countable; Uncountable
name
Amnesty International, a UK-based charity.
Example Sentences
- "Argentina has seen few legal issues as contentiously debated as these two laws of amnesty during the last two decades. […] Pursuant to the Convention on Forced Disappearance, amnesties may not contemplate a statutory limitation period less than that corresponding to the gravest crime punishable by domestic laws, provided there is a pre-existing domestic norm of “fundamental character” requiring that limitation."
- "Russian lawmakers backed a sweeping amnesty law Wednesday that could see jailed members of the Pussy Riot punk protest band released early and arrested Greenpeace activists avoiding prison, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported."
- "He said building amnesties were “a huge issue.”"
- "Shortly after the end of military rule in 1983, the Argentinean National Congress passed legislation that effectively amnestied many persons who allegedly committed human rights violations such as torture, extra-judicial killing, and forced disappearance. […] In other words, a government may be justified in amnestying military actions because the alternative would result in the destruction of the democratic state."
- "“100 miles of border wall in exchange for amnestying millions of illegals. So if we grant citizenship to a BILLION foreigners, maybe we can finally get a full border wall,” Coulter wrote in another tweet."
- "“This is such immoral selectivity,” he added. “Anyone who amnesties Russia and who artificially creates a such informational context where some attacks by terrorists are supposedly justified or supposedly understandable cannot fail to understand that, in doing so, they are helping the terrorists.”"
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French amnestie (Modern French amnistie), a borrowing from Latin amnestia, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία (amnēstía).
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: amnestia, ἀμνηστία
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Amnesty International