vindication

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of vindicating or condition of being vindicated.
• noun Something that provides evidence or support for a claim or argument.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of vindicating, or the state of being vindicated.
• noun The act of supporting by proof or legal process; the proving of anything to be true or just: as, the vindication of a title, claim, or right.
• noun Defense from wrong or oppression, by force or otherwise; maintenance of a cause against an assailant or enemy: as, the vindication of the rights of man; the vindication of liberties.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of vindicating, or the state of being vindicated; defense; justification against denial or censure.
• noun (Civil Law) The claiming a thing as one's own; the asserting of a right or title in, or to, a thing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun the act of vindicating or the state of being vindicated
• noun evidence, facts, statements or arguments that justify a claim or belief

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the act of vindicating or defending against criticism or censure etc.
• noun the justification for some act or belief