vindicatory

comparative more vindicatory · superlative most vindicatory

1. Promoting or producing vindication.

   The principal vindicatory feature of the market system . . . rests in the fact that it permits and facilitates an intermarket and intersectoral flow of economic values.

   1995, Douglas Vickers, The Tyranny of the Market, →ISBN, page 77

   Synonyms: absolutory, disculpatory, exonerative, absolutionary, absolutory, absolving, exculpatory, disculpatory

2. Promoting or producing retribution or punishment.

   To prevent the strong from oppressing the weak; to protect the acquisitions of industry . . . are duties which require that delegated authority should be exerted by public force and the vindicatory dispensations of pains and penalties.

   1800, The Annual Register, volume 39, London: J. Dodsley, published 1797, page 486

   Synonyms: punitive, retributive, vindictive, castigatory, punishmental, punitive, punitory, vindictive