martyr
Americannoun
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a person who willingly suffers death rather than renounce their religion.
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a person who is put to death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief, principle, or cause.
Her death has made her a martyr to the cause of social justice.
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a person who undergoes severe or constant suffering.
The patient was a martyr to severe headaches.
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a person who seeks sympathy or attention by feigning or exaggerating pain, deprivation, etc.
verb (used with object)
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to persecute for supporting a belief or cause, especially by putting to death.
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to torment or torture.
noun
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a person who suffers death rather than renounce his religious beliefs
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a person who suffers greatly or dies for a cause, belief, etc
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a person who suffers from poor health, misfortune, etc
he's a martyr to rheumatism
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facetious a person who feigns suffering to gain sympathy, help, etc
verb
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to kill as a martyr
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to make a martyr of
Other Word Forms
- martyrish adjective
- martyrization noun
- martyrly adverb
- unmartyred adjective
Etymology
Origin of martyr
First recorded before 900; Middle English noun martir, marter, Old English martyr from Old French and Late Latin, from Late Greek mártyr, dialect variant of Greek mártys, mártyros “witness”; verb derivative of noun
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.
She was a martyr, someone who died for her beliefs.
From Salon
The antique heroes of the 1780s vanish from his work, replaced by the drama of modern French revolutionary martyrs.
Making a profile documentary about the martyred Tejano music icon, whose life and career have already been the subject of a popular film and a scripted TV series, must be a daunting task.
From Los Angeles Times
His Marat has the “seraphic countenance” and clear skin, Mr. Crow tells us, of a “secular martyr.”
But to some, it has also made him a martyr.
From BBC
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.
