0 past simple and past participle of pardon
1 to forgive someone for something they have said or done. This word is often used in polite expressions:
He immediately gave himself up and promised to name his accomplices and own up to all his crimes if pardoned.
The persons pardoned will not be punished under the law.
He was pardoned only after officially vowing to refrain from political commentary or activity.
He had been condemned to death, but pardoned.
The layman may well be pardoned if he takes these technical terms at their face value, but the resultant confusion may have disastrous effects' (1933, 410).
I am guilty of slight exaggeration but the figures are so enormous that anyone would be pardoned if he made a mistake.
From what one sometimes hears from the fishing centres, the ordinary public might be pardoned for imagining that there is little co-operation in the industry.
After he had been in prison for about six months he was released, but he was not pardoned.
