An acquittal is the court's official statement that someone is not guilty. After a trial, a judge or a jury may decide the person did not do the crime, or that the government did not prove it well enough. The result is an acquittal: on that charge, the person can walk free. It is a law word, at home in news and in court, not at the dinner table. People sometimes stretch it in jokes — 'that's an acquittal from me' meaning 'I say you're fine' — but that is play. Though actually, an acquittal is not the same as the whole world agreeing you are innocent. It means the court did not find you guilty. Sometimes that is because you really did not do it; sometimes it is because the proof was weak. It is also not the same as the police never taking you to court at all. If there is no trial, there is no acquittal. The word names the official result, not a prize and not a hug from the judge.