immolate
Americanverb (used with object)
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immolates,
present (3rd person singular)
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immolated,
past participle, past
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immolating
present participle
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to sacrifice.
-
to kill as a sacrificial victim, as by fire; offer in sacrifice.
-
to destroy by fire.
verb
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to kill or offer as a sacrifice, esp by fire
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literary to sacrifice (something highly valued)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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immolatesimple
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immolatessimple
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have immolatedperfect
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has immolatedperfect
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am immolatingprogressive
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are immolatingprogressive
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is immolatingprogressive
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have been immolatingperfect progressive
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has been immolatingperfect progressive
Past
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immolatedsimple
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had immolatedperfect
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was immolatingprogressive
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were immolatingprogressive
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had been immolatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of immolate
1540–50; < Latin immolātus, past participle of immolāre to sprinkle with holy meal prior to sacrificing, sacrifice, equivalent to im- im- 1 + mol ( a ) sacrificial barley cake, literally, millstone ( see mill 1) + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
Immolate is a verb that means to destroy something or someone, usually using fire, as a sacrifice to a higher cause. Do not try this at home. To protest the Vietnam War, some Buddhist monks would pour gasoline on their body, light a match, and immolate themselves, hoping that their fiery death would bring attention to the horror of war. The word comes from the Latin immolare, which means “sprinkled with sacrificial meal,” in reference to rituals where wheat grain would be sprinkled on the heads of human sacrifices. Immolation is a powerful statement, but talking it out is always a safer and less depressing option.
Vocabulary lists containing immolate
The Road
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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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.
See Examples For:
Sichuan peppercorns that paralyze the lips and turn speech to a burr, and Thai bird chilies that immolate everything they touch.
From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2017
Often the famous will immolate all on their own with one ill-considered remark or tweet.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 6, 2015
Holt, now 56, is being called in to smooth over a crisis again, because no one at NBC imagined Williams' career at the network would immolate the way it did.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2015
Then her eyes flash with a look that could almost immolate you, and she gives you a tongue lashing that stings for days.
From MSNBC ● Feb. 11, 2015
It was probably just peaceful despair and relief at final and complete abnegation, now that Judith was about to immolate the frustration’s vicarious recompense into the living fairy tale.
From "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner
Social media runs on the righteous anger such betrayals can activate and, along with its more toxic cousins, that anger immolates most attempts at nuance.
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2026
Hoping that she can learn the Fireman's secret to Dragonscale before she immolates or has her baby, Harper sets out into the New England forest with her rescuer.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2016
Speak, then; let me at least know the name of him for whom she thus immolates herself.
From The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katharine Green
Immolā′tion, act of immolating: a sacrifice; Imm′olator, one who immolates or offers sacrifice.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
She immolates herself for the suffering one, cares for him and saves him, then lays down her own life.
From Outlines of English and American Literature : an Introduction to the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote, and to the Times in Which They Lived by William Joseph Long
And “Nothing Compares,” which debuted at Sundance, is bringing O’Connor’s story to a generation of viewers who weren’t yet alive when she immolated her career at 30 Rock.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2022
It gets weirder: Some giant planets that spark star-killing ejections may also bring new worlds into existence as they are immolated in the stellar furnace.
From New York Times ● Aug. 19, 2022
My love of all things charred, blackened, browned and otherwise immolated runs deep.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2022
Am I hopeful, as a believer who prays Smith will rise, stronger and wiser, from the ashes of everything he immolated Sunday night?
From Washington Post ● Apr. 2, 2022
When this coincidence was casually mentioned to the host of the Golden Age, he would have immolated us on the altar of his hospitality had we not discreetly retreated to the ship.
From Under the Southern Cross or Travels in Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Samoa, and Other Pacific Islands by Maturin Murray Ballou
She was spicy without immolating her targets, respectful without feeling phony or fawning.
From Salon ● Jan. 6, 2025
It can feel both misty and assertive, partly because of the way his effects pedals create something hot and threatening, as if he’s immolating his own notes as soon as they arrive.
From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2018
Yes, Emma Stone, Ms. Miller’s immediate predecessor in the role, was sensational, an immolating fireball of neurosis and vanity.
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2015
We have to find a way of standing up for our principles without immolating ourselves in front of everybody.”
From Time ● Sep. 24, 2013
I should be sorry to plunge a worthy family into grief by immolating such a scapegrace.
From Willis the Pilot by Paul Adrien
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
