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; as, to absolve a subject from his allegiance; to absolve an offender, which amounts to an acquittal and remission of his punishment.
To free from a penalty; to pardon; to remit (a sin); - said of the sin or guilt.
To finish; to accomplish.
To resolve or explain.
To separate the component parts of; to reduce to the constituent elements; - said of compound substances; hence, sometimes, to melt, or dissolve.
To reduce to simple or intelligible notions; - said of complex ideas or obscure questions; to make clear or certain; to free from doubt; to disentangle; to unravel; to explain; hence, to clear up, or dispel, as doubt; as, to resolve a riddle.
To cause to perceive or understand; to acquaint; to inform; to convince; to assure; to make certain.
To determine or decide in purpose; to make ready in mind; to fix; to settle; as, he was resolved by an unexpected event.
To express, as an opinion or determination, by resolution and vote; to declare or decide by a formal vote; - followed by a clause; as, the house resolved (or, it was resolved by the house) that no money should be apropriated (or, to appropriate no money).
To change or convert by resolution or formal vote; - used only reflexively; as, the house resolved itself into a committee of the whole.
To solve, as a problem, by enumerating the several things to be done, in order to obtain what is required; to find the answer to, or the result of.
To dispere or scatter; to discuss, as an inflammation or a tumor.
To let the tones (as of a discord) follow their several tendencies, resulting in a concord.
To relax; to lay at ease.
To be separated into its component parts or distinct principles; to undergo resolution.
To melt; to dissolve; to become fluid.
To be settled in opinion; to be convinced.
To form a purpose; to make a decision; especially, to determine after reflection; as, to resolve on a better course of life.
The act of resolving or making clear; resolution; solution.
That which has been resolved on or determined; decisive conclusion; fixed purpose; determination; also, legal or official determination; a legislative declaration; a resolution.
