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expiatory

[ek-spee-uh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR expiatory ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

able to make atonement or expiation; offered by way of expiation: expiatory sacrifices.

Origin of expiatory

1540–50; < Late Latin expiātōrius, equivalent to expiā(re) (see expiate) + -tōrius -tory¹

Related formsnon·ex·pi·a·to·ry, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for expiatory

propitiatory, conciliatory, lustral, purgatorial, conciliative, expiable

Examples from the Web for expiatory

Historical Examples of expiatory

We must offer an expiatory sacrifice to Oromasis, for, awful thought!
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete
Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
This practice—save the expiatory offerings—was adopted by the Christians.
Pagan and Christian Rome
Rodolfo Lanciani
Remorse goaded me to desperation,—desperation prompted the expiatory vow.
Ernest Linwood
Caroline Lee Hentz
It would be an infringement of the sacredness of his expiatory vow.
Ernest Linwood
Caroline Lee Hentz
For this fatal error he offered his own blood as an expiatory sacrifice.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 103, May, 1866
Various

British Dictionary definitions for expiatory

expiatory

adjective

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

Word Origin and History for expiatory

adj.

1540s, from Latin expiatorius, from expiatus, past participle of expiare (see expiation).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper