An official decision by a government to forgive people for crimes or political offenses, so they are no longer punished. It often applies to large groups rather than individuals.
From Greek *amnēstia* (“forgetfulness, pardon”), from *a-* (“not”) and *mnēstis* (“remembrance”), related to *mnasthai* (“to remember”). It originally meant a kind of official “forgetting” of offenses.
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