expiate

[ ek-spee-eyt ]

/ ˈɛk spiˌeɪt /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for: expiate / expiates on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object), ex·pi·at·ed, ex·pi·at·ing.

to atone for; make amends or reparation for: to expiate one's crimes.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of expiate

1585–95; <Latin expiātus (past participle of expiāre to atone for, make good), equivalent to ex-ex-¹ + piā(re) to propitiate (see pious) + -tus past participle suffix

OTHER WORDS FROM expiate

ex·pi·a·tor, nounun·ex·pi·at·ed, adjective

Words nearby expiate

expertism, expertize, expert system, expert witness, expiable, expiate, expiation, expiatory, expiration, expiration date, expiratory

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use expiate in a sentence

In 1994 after Mandela became president of South Africa, he made Tutu the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a national tribunal to try to expiate the sins of apartheid.
A Fearless Beacon of Moral Justice: Remembering Desmond Tutu|Richard Stengel|December 27, 2021|Time
These are autumnal deaths to expiate the sins of a people and appease the heavens so summer might return.
Three Great Men Died That Day: JFK, C.S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley|John Garth|November 3, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Can it, as the prophets suggest, expiate our sins and bring us closer to God?
The Enlightenment Diet|Bruce Feiler|September 27, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Leave inquietude and remorse to those corrupt women who have cause to reproach themselves, or who have crimes to expiate.
Letters To Eugenia|Paul Henri Thiry Holbach

Our former lapses require tears, shame and sorrow to expiate them.
The love letters of Abelard and Heloise|Peter Abelard
Descended of an ancient and noble family, he was doomed to expiate a crime, of which he had been guilty, at Tyburn.
The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2|Camden Pelham
After her abdication in 1367, Petermann entered the monastery to expiate the sins and follies of his youth.
Tyrol and its People|Clive Holland
If this maiden on a Brahman casts her eye, devoid of shame, Let her expiate her folly in a pyre of blazing flame!
Maha-bharata|Anonymous

British Dictionary definitions for expiate

expiate

/ (ˈɛkspɪˌeɪt) /

verb

(tr) to atone for or redress (sin or wrongdoing); make amends for

Derived forms of expiate

expiator, noun

Word Origin for expiate

C16: from Latin expiāre, from pius dutiful; see pious

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

expiate

Origin of expiate

OTHER WORDS FROM expiate

Words nearby expiate

Words related to expiate

How to use expiate in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for expiate

Derived forms of expiate

Word Origin for expiate