absolve

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

• transitive verb To pronounce clear of guilt or blame.
• transitive verb To relieve of a requirement or obligation.
• transitive verb To grant a remission of sin to.
• transitive verb To pardon or remit (a sin).

from The Century Dictionary.

• To set free or release, as from some duty, obligation, or responsibility.
• To free from the consequences or penalties attaching to actions; acquit; specifically, in eccles. language, to forgive or grant remission of sins; pronounce forgiveness of sins to.
• To accomplish; finish.
• To solve; resolve; explain.
• Synonyms

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

• transitive verb To set free, or release, as from some obligation, debt, or responsibility, or from the consequences of guilt or such ties as it would be sin or guilt to violate; to pronounce free
• transitive verb To free from a penalty; to pardon; to remit (a sin); -- said of the sin or guilt.
• transitive verb obsolete To finish; to accomplish.
• transitive verb obsolete To resolve or explain.

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

• verb transitive To pass a course or test; to gain credit for a class; to qualify academically.

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

• verb let off the hook
• verb grant remission of a sin to