immolate

American  

[im-uh-leyt] / ˈɪm əˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

immolates, present (3rd person singular) immolated, past participle, past immolating present participle

1. to sacrifice.

2. to kill as a sacrificial victim, as by fire; offer in sacrifice.

3. to destroy by fire.

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immolate British  

/ ˈɪməʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. to kill or offer as a sacrifice, esp by fire

2. literary to sacrifice (something highly valued)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• immolation
  noun
• immolator
  noun
• unimmolated
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• immolating
  present
• immolated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• immolate
  simple
• immolates
  simple
• have immolated
  perfect
• has immolated
  perfect
• am immolating
  progressive
• are immolating
  progressive
• is immolating
  progressive
• have been immolating
  perfect progressive
• has been immolating
  perfect progressive

Past

• immolated
  simple
• had immolated
  perfect
• was immolating
  progressive
• were immolating
  progressive
• had been immolating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will immolate
  simple
• will have immolated
  perfect
• will be immolating
  progressive
• will have been immolating
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

immolate immolates immolated immolating

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

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

Behold how she immolates herself upon the altar of friendship!

From Beatrice Leigh at College A Story for Girls by Schwartz, Julia Augusta

Before he can grow feeble and die he immolates himself willingly on his own altar; and a younger and a stronger than he receives his spirit.

From The Great Taboo by Allen, Grant

"Who will tell me what it is?" said the Count; "who will exhibit it to my eyes? who will show me the phantom which robs me of name and fame, and secretly immolates my honor?"

From The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 3, October, 1851 by Various

At thirty he coldly immolates the repose and happiness of the woman who loves him to the slightest necessity.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, December 18, 1841 by Various

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

If I believed that Iphegenia were in fact on the point of being immolated by her father at a distance of twenty paces from me, I should leave the theatre trembling with horror.

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

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

We have to find a way of standing up for our principles without immolating ourselves in front of everybody.”

From Time ● Sep. 24, 2013

As a result, the practice of sati – or widows immolating themselves on their husbands’ funeral pyres – was abolished in Goa 200 years before the British banned it in the rest of India.

From New York Times ● Dec. 16, 2011

When men practise a rigid course of self-denial in this respect; immolating all vain desires upon the altar of science, or of interest, they seldom fail to attain the utmost point of their ambition.

From A Voyage Round the World, Volume I Including Travels in Africa, Asia, Australasia, America, etc., etc., from 1827 to 1832 by Holman, James