expiatory
able to make atonement or expiation; offered by way of expiation: expiatory sacrifices.
Origin of expiatory
1Other words from expiatory
- non·ex·pi·a·to·ry, adjective
Words Nearby expiatory
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use expiatory in a sentence
Where, on the other hand, the victim is a fellow tribesman, the sacrifice is expiatory or piacular.
Myth, Ritual, and Religion, Vol. 1 | Andrew LangAnd, third, Are his sufferings expiatory—the meritorious cause of human salvation?
The Sheepfold and the Common, Vol. II (of 2) | Timothy EastHe came in one morning, after he had concluded his suspicions were wrong, and made a sort of expiatory call.
Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885 | VariousA great expiatory sacrifice succeeded in finally calming him.
Piacular, pī-ak′ū-lar, adj. serving to appease, expiatory: requiring expiation: atrociously bad.
British Dictionary definitions for expiatory
/ (ˈɛkspɪətərɪ, -trɪ) /
capable of making expiation
given or offered in expiation
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
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