It's the Word of the Day podcast for May 6th.

Today's word is exculpate, spelled E-X-C-U-L-P-A-T-E.

Exculpate is a verb. To exculpate someone is to prove that they are not guilty of doing something

wrong. Here's the word used in a sentence from the Atlantic by Arthur C. Brooks. Research shows that

social media use is associated with greater narcissism as well as depression and anxiety,

but it is too easy to exculpate ourselves as a society

by pointing to technology and trends we can scarcely control,

and young adults may not be in a position to address their avoidant behavior.

The rest of us can help.

There's no need to say my bad if you're unfamiliar with the word exculpate.

While it's far from rare, it's most often encountered in formal writing in reference to the

clearing of someone of alleged fault or guilt, as in they were exculpated of any wrongdoing.

You may be more familiar with a pair of terms that, like exculpate,

come from the Latin noun, culpa, meaning blame or guilt. One is the adjective culpable,

used to describe someone deserving of condemnation or blame. The other is the Latin phrase mea

culpa, which translates directly as through my fault and refers to an

acknowledgement of personal fault or error that is more formal than, well, my bad. With your word

of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.

Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups.