WORD of the day

indemnity \in-DEM-ni-tee\, noun:

1. Protection or security against damage or loss.
2. Compensation for damage or loss sustained.
3. Something paid by way of such compensation.
4. Legal exemption from penalties attaching to unconstitutional or illegal actions, granted to public officers and other persons.
But he suddenly got up, and after a mad burst of laughter, he cried: "An indemnity! Holy Virgin, an indemnity! Don't you realize that I want to give her everything, the spring, the carnations, the house, and all the Soubeyran inheritance, the lands, the house, the treasure, my name, and my life?"
-- Marcel Pagnol, Jean de Florette
"Reconciliation is not simply a question of indemnity or amnesty and letting bygones be bygones," Omar said. "If the wounds of the past are to be healed... disclosure of the truth and its acknowledgment are essential."
-- "Mandela Will Grant Amnesty For Some Political Crimes", Jet, 1994.

One of the roots of indemnity, the Middle English damnum, "loss", relates to the modern verb damn.