expiatory

American  

[ek-spee-uh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] / ˈɛk spi əˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /

adjective

1. able to make atonement or expiation; offered by way of expiation.

   expiatory sacrifices.

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expiatory British  

/ -trɪ, ˈɛkspɪətərɪ /

adjective

1. capable of making expiation

2. given or offered in expiation

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Other Word Forms

• nonexpiatory adjective

Etymology

Origin of expiatory

1540–50; < Late Latin expiātōrius, equivalent to expiā ( re ) ( expiate ) + -tōrius -tory ¹

Example Sentences

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

"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

"Ah! then we die in sin, and the dreaded rebirth cannot be avoided; but we hope to escape such a catastrophe and to return safely to our country to perform the necessary expiatory ceremonies."

From The Outcaste by Penny, F. E.

Only a long habit of sin and crime, an accumulation of oft-repeated faults, can compass this sentiment, at once avenging and expiatory.

From Lectures on the true, the beautiful and the good by Cousin, Victor