expiate

[ek-spee-eyt]

verb (used with object)

expiated, expiating 

1. to atone for; make amends or reparation for.

   to expiate one's crimes.

expiate

/ ˈɛkspɪˌeɪt /

verb

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

Other Word Forms

• expiator noun
• unexpiated adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of expiate¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of expiate¹

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

Example Sentences

The Sisters have come a long way, but never strayed from their mission: to promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt.

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I keep it and rear it rather on the Roman Catholic principle of expiating numerous sins, great or small, by one good work.

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He spent a large part of his life expiating one unfortunate deed after another and never rebelling against the almost impossible demands made upon him.

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Middle-class white students expiating their guilt over the death of Martin Luther King—that was how many viewed the demonstrations.

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In this airbrushed history, America expiated its original sin of slavery with the massive bloodletting that was our Civil War.

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