redemptive
Americanadjective
-
serving to redeem.
-
of, relating to, or centering on redemption or salvation.
redemptive religions.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of redemptive
First recorded in 1640–50; redempt(ion) + -ive
Explanation
Anything redemptive saves someone from making a mistake or being evil. Many people describe love as redemptive, healing even those who have done terrible things in the past. The adjective redemptive comes from the noun redemption, and both words have historically been used in a religious way, to mean "delivering (or saving) from sin" or "deliverance from sin." Saving someone's mortal soul, in other words, is redemptive. The Latin root, redimere, means "to get back" or "to buy back."
Vocabulary lists containing redemptive
"I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King Jr.
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Vocabulary from texts about the 1963 March on Washington
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myPerspectives 9.3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Redemptive and uplifting and all those corny words.
From New York Times • Apr. 10, 2022
He also praises her, with tongue only partly in cheek, as “Pioneer of Arts and Letters, Champion of the Voiceless and Redemptive Savior of the Western world.”
From New York Times • Oct. 17, 2018
Redemptive moments in sport are supposed to be grand affairs, soundtracked by emotive strings, preferably viewed in slow motion.
From BBC • Feb. 21, 2014
A new autobiography, Cleaning Up: One Man's Redemptive Journey Through the Seductive World of Corporate Crime, documents how he has uncovered more than $1 billion worth of fraud in the past 14 months alone.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mrs. ——'s paper on 'The Redemptive Power of Art' was very so-so, and did not touch my conception of the theme, viz., art made valuable for the reform of criminals.
From Julia Ward Howe 1819-1910 by Elliott, Maud Howe
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
