exemption

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

• noun The act or an instance of exempting.
• noun The state of being exempt; immunity.
• noun An exception to the ordinary operation of law, as:
• noun An exception of certain property from bankruptcy or taxation.
• noun The deduction of a certain amount in the computation of net income with regard to taxation, allowed for an individual, that individual's dependents, and certain characteristics, such as blindness or age.
• noun Excuse from performance of a legal duty, such as release from serving in the military or as a juror.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of exempting; the state of being exempt; freedom from some undesirable requirement or condition; immunity; dispensation: as, exemption from servitude; exemption from taxation.
• noun In the Roman Catholic Church, a regulation through which places or individuals are brought directly under the control of the Holy See, instead of being subject to the authority of the diocesan bishop.

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

• noun The act of exempting; the state of being exempt; freedom from any charge, burden, evil, etc., to which others are subject; immunity; privilege

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

• noun An act of exempting.
• noun The state of being exempt; immunity.
• noun A deduction from the normal amount of taxes.
• noun Freedom from a defect or weakness.

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

• noun an act exempting someone
• noun a deduction allowed to a taxpayer because of his status (having certain dependents or being blind or being over 65 etc.)
• noun immunity from an obligation or duty