expiatory
Americanadjective
adjective
-
capable of making expiation
-
given or offered in expiation
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of expiatory
1540–50; < Late Latin expiātōrius, equivalent to expiā ( re ) ( see expiate) + -tōrius -tory 1
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.
"After the great Christ paintings of the Renaissance, this is the first nonreligious painting of an expiatory personage, a self-sacrifice figure."
From Time Magazine Archive
As the state Librarian dryly explained: "It is an expiatory sacrifice to veracity, to good sense and true taste."
From Time Magazine Archive
But it is not to last�Stine is married to another, while Joachim is wedded only to his simple expiatory life.
From Time Magazine Archive
The expiatory fine was 1,000 marks, but Greifswald, where the family of the deceased resided, remained closed to him.
From Bartholomew Sastrow Being the Memoirs of a German Burgomaster by Sastrow, Bartholomew
But hearken to what remains to be told; I have lately arrived in France, and I wished not to let my great purpose of continual expiatory acts stand still during my sojourn in this country.
From The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 6 of 6 by Sue, Eugène
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.
