expiate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
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
Explanation
In the fairy tale, the baker must expiate his father’s sins by bringing the witch three ingredients for a magic potion: a cow, a cape and a slipper. Expiate means to make amends or atone for a wrong you or someone else has committed. After the incident on the hill, a mortified Jill expiated her guilt by buying Jack a brand new crown. The shiny new crown served as compensation, or expiation, for the broken one. That it cost her so dearly made the expiatory gesture especially meaningful to poor Jack.
Vocabulary lists containing expiate
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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.
In no time, he’d be shouting “the game’s afoot!” and heading off on an adventure not to expiate secret feelings of worthlessness or avenge a dead loved one, but just for the hell of it.
From Slate • Mar. 31, 2021
You repeat a trauma continually, until you expiate it.
From The Guardian • Dec. 8, 2019
Titch wants to expiate the misdeeds of his childhood, and seeks the approval of his remote, inconstant father.
From The New Yorker • Sep. 17, 2018
She helps him expiate his guilt by contextualizing it in the story of his people.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 24, 2017
He also seemed to be trying to do something more than expiate guilt.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
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.
