expiatory

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

See 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

Other 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 Lang
And, third, Are his sufferings expiatory—the meritorious cause of human salvation?
The Sheepfold and the Common, Vol. II (of 2) | Timothy East
He came in one morning, after he had concluded his suspicions were wrong, and made a sort of expiatory call.
Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885 | Various
A great expiatory sacrifice succeeded in finally calming him.
The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, November 1879 | Various
Piacular, pī-ak′ū-lar, adj. serving to appease, expiatory: requiring expiation: atrociously bad.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) | Various

British Dictionary definitions for expiatory

expiatory

/ (ˈɛkspɪətərɪ, -trɪ) /

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

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