Historical Revisionism

noun extenuation

verb to make (guilt or an offense) seem less serious or more forgivable

• It is important to consider all factors that may extenuate the defendant's actions in court.
• I know you're upset, but there's no need to extenuate the situation.
• Don't try to extenuate your way out of this mess.
• Her smile was enough to extenuate any bad mood I was in.

noun A person who advocates for a revision or reinterpretation of a particular theory, ideology, or historical event.

• The historian presented a revisionist interpretation of the events leading up to the war.
• Some people think the revisionist view of history is more accurate.
• I heard there's a new revisionist theory going around about that famous battle.
• The artist took a revisionist approach to traditional painting techniques.

verb to make something seem more attractive or idealized than it really is

• The author romanticized the idea of love in his novel, creating an unrealistic portrayal.
• Stop romanticizing the past, it wasn't as great as you remember.
• Don't romanticize him, he's not the prince charming you think he is.
• The media often romanticizes the life of celebrities, making it seem more glamorous than it really is.

verb to clear someone of blame or suspicion; to show or prove to be right, reasonable, or justified

• The evidence presented in court helped to vindicate the defendant's innocence.
• I knew I was right all along, and the test results vindicated me.
• After all the rumors, the truth finally came out and vindicated him.
• His success in the competition vindicated all the hard work he had put in.

noun the action of clearing someone of blame or suspicion; justification or defense of a cause or claim

• The evidence presented in court led to her vindication of the false accusations.
• She finally got her vindication when the truth came out.
• She totally got that vindication she was looking for.
• His success in the competition was a sweet vindication of all his hard work.

noun a method of painting walls or buildings with whitewash

verb to cover up or gloss over the faults or errors of (someone or something)

• The practice of whitewashing historical events has been criticized for distorting the truth.
• I can't believe they're whitewashing the story to make themselves look better.
• Stop whitewashing the situation and tell me the truth.
• She tried to whitewash her past mistakes, but everyone could see the truth.

noun a person who believes in or promotes conspiracy theories

• The conspiracist claimed that the moon landing was faked by the government.
• My friend is such a conspiracist, always talking about secret plots and cover-ups.
• Don't listen to that conspiracist, they're just spouting nonsense.
• The conspiracist's mind was a tangled web of theories and suspicions.