expiate

[ek-spee-eyt]

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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.

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

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for expiate

remedy, rectify, amend, forgive, absolve, atone, excuse, redeem, compensate, redress, appease, correct

Examples from the Web for expiate

Contemporary Examples of expiate

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
Can it, as the prophets suggest, expiate our sins and bring us closer to God?
The Enlightenment Diet
Bruce Feiler
September 27, 2009

Historical Examples of expiate

Future obedience, supposing it perfect, could not expiate past offences.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. II
Francis Augustus Cox
It was some comfort to think that fate had made him expiate our weakness.
The Greater Inclination
Edith Wharton
Anti-republicans can only expiate their folly under the age of the guillotine.
Memoirs of the Court of St. Cloud, Complete
Lewis Goldsmith
Go to bed and sleep like the cherub you are, while I expiate here with my pipe.
Blue-grass and Broadway
Maria Thompson Daviess
But, whoever may have been the author, pains were taken to expiate the sacrilege.
The Rise of the Hugenots, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Henry Martyn Baird

British Dictionary definitions for expiate

expiate

verb

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

Derived Formsexpiator, 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

Word Origin and History for expiate

c.1600 (OED entry has a typographical error in the earliest date), from Latin expiatus, past participle of expiare "to make amends, atone for (see expiation). Related: Expiable (1560s); expiated; expiating.