immolate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to sacrifice.
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to kill as a sacrificial victim, as by fire; offer in sacrifice.
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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
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
Speak, then; let me at least know the name of him for whom she thus immolates herself.
From The Leavenworth Case by Green, Anna Katharine
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 Long, William Joseph
Bankman-Fried’s personal fortune has been immolated over only a few days of turmoil.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2022
My love of all things charred, blackened, browned and otherwise immolated runs deep.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2022
Still, to avoid the possibility of the spread of disease, any deer that occasionally swim onto the island are killed and immolated.
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2016
Here’s a guide to a few of this year’s most interesting art and architecture projects, large and small – not including the Burning Man himself, immolated on Saturday night.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 1, 2015
On the following day, in commemoration of the sacrifice of Abraham, the victims were immolated in the valley of Mina.
From The Life of Mohammad The Prophet of Allah by Dinet, Etienne
She was spicy without immolating her targets, respectful without feeling phony or fawning.
From Salon ● Jan. 6, 2025
She defies the gods, falls in love with a heroic dragon-slayer and ultimately redeems the world through love before immolating herself.
From New York Times ● Mar. 15, 2019
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
He appeared only in the daytime, helping the emperor in addressing supplications to the gods, and in immolating the victims.
From Pagan and Christian Rome by Lanciani, Rodolfo Amedeo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
