sacrificial
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What does sacrificial mean? Sacrificial is used to describe things that involve a sacrifice—something important or precious that is given up for the sake of gaining something or allowing something to happen that is considered more important. The thing being sacrificed can be tangible, like a valued object, or intangible, like time or health, as in, I would never sacrifice my health just to make more money. The words sacrifice and sacrificial are often used in the context of religious offerings. Such a sacrifice might be an animal that is killed and offered to a god or gods. The term sacrificial lamb is a reference to such religious sacrifices and is often used in a metaphorical way to refer to someone who is sacrificed in some way for the benefit of others. The term is often used in overlapping ways with the word scapegoat. Example: Archaeologists think the site was once used for sacrificial rituals.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sacrificial
Explanation
Anything sacrificial has to do with a sacrifice. Giving up your seat for someone else is a sacrificial act. A sacrifice is something given up for the sake of others, so anything sacrificial is connected to that selfless act. In some cultures, people were once thrown in volcanoes to appease the gods: this was a sacrificial ritual, because the person's life was taken for a higher purpose. In Christianity, Jesus dying for other people's sins is a sacrificial act. Even small actions can be sacrificial if you give something up for a purpose.
Vocabulary lists containing sacrificial
List 1
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Words from the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate
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The Egypt Game
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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.
She intended them “to cement her status as a sacrificial figure in the image of Socrates,” Ms. Stalnaker writes.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026
Some will see him now as a victim, a sacrificial lamb, a man who had the bravery to speak up about the problems the club faced and who got driven out because of it.
From BBC • Oct. 27, 2025
And that in order to correct for that mistake, you need to be sacrificial.
From Slate • Jun. 24, 2025
There was something at once sacrificial and redemptive in what McDonald was channeling in her art, and I left the Majestic Theatre feeling reborn.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2025
As she placed the sacrificial parts upon a blazing altar, the earth rumbled and quaked beneath their feet and from afar dogs howled through the darkness.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
