protomartyr
Americannoun
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the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen.
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the first martyr in any cause.
noun
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St Stephen as the first Christian martyr
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the first martyr to lay down his life in any cause
Etymology
Origin of protomartyr
1400–50; late Middle English prothomartyr < Late Latin prōtomartyr < Late Greek prōtómartys. See proto-, martyr
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.
The largest relic in England of the protomartyr is his thigh, preserved at St Michael's Benedictine Abbey, in Farnborough, Hampshire.
From BBC ● May 28, 2016
Let us commemorate, my friends, at this last hour, a great if all unwitting benefactor, the protomartyr of our cause.
From The Last Generation A Story of the Future by Flecker, James Elroy
Among the Aryans of India, as we have already seen, Death has a protomartyr, Tama, ‘the first of men who reached the river, spying out a path for many.’
From Modern Mythology by Lang, Andrew
The body of this venerable virgin and bride of Christ was buried in the church of the blessed protomartyr, Stephen.
From Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede, Cuthbert
He is called protomartyr, that is the first witness, because he first after Christ's passion suffered martyrdom.
From The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of ?lfric, in the Original Anglo-Saxon, with an English Version. Volume I. by Aelfric, Abbot of Eynsham
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.
