expiatory
Americanadjective
adjective
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capable of making expiation
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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
The descent from the latter is also confirmed by the tradition concerning the expiatory virgins for the crime of Ajax the son of Oileus.
From The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 2 of 2 by Karl Otfried Müller
The oracle, being again consulted by Temenus, bade him offer an expiatory sacrifice and banish the murderer for ten years, and look out for a man with three eyes to act as guide.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 3 "Helmont, Jean" to "Hernosand" by Various
Such expiatory sacrifices of animals for the dead survive in the Christian churches of Armenia, Syria and of the East generally.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3 "Frost" to "Fyzabad" by Various
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.
