amnesty

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈæmnəsti/ UK /ˈamnəsti/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
an official pardon for people convicted of political or other offenses

The new government granted amnesty to all wartime deserters.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an official pardon for... pardon reprieve clemency absolution dispensation

Opposites

punishment penalty condemnation

Word family

Forms amnested

Derived forms amnestied

Related forms amnesia

Simplified etymology

Amnesty came through Latin from Greek amnēstia, meaning “forgetfulness,” a sense also found in its early English use. The Greek word shares its root with amnesia.

Etymology

From French amnistie or directly from Latin amnestia, from Ancient Greek amnestia ('forgetfulness, oblivion'), from a- ('not') + mnestis ('remembrance'), related to mnasthai ('to remember').

amnestia Ancient Greek mnasthai Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# amnesty

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈæmnəsti/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈamnəsti/

## Meanings
1. an official pardon for people convicted of political or other offenses

## Examples
- The new government granted amnesty to all wartime deserters.

## Synonyms
- pardon
- reprieve
- clemency
- absolution
- dispensation

## Antonyms
- punishment
- penalty
- condemnation

## Derived Forms
- amnestied

## Related Forms
- amnesia

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: amnestia
- Root: mnasthai

## Etymology
From French amnistie or directly from Latin amnestia, from Ancient Greek amnestia ('forgetfulness, oblivion'), from a- ('not') + mnestis ('remembrance'), related to mnasthai ('to remember').

## AI Etymology
amnesty comes from French amnistie or directly from Latin amnestia, from Ancient Greek amnestia ('forgetfulness, oblivion'), from a- ('not') + mnestis ('remembrance'), related to mnasthai ('to remember'). Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the noun sense is "an official pardon for people convicted of political or other offenses", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as amnesia and derivatives such as amnestied, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Ancient Greek amnestia, Ancient Greek mnasthai, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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