a Hindu practice whereby a widow immolates herself on the funeral pyre of her husband: now abolished by law.
a Hindu widow who so immolates herself.
First recorded in 1780–90, sati is from the Sanskrit word satī good woman, woman devoted to her husband
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It mandated death or life term for those committing sati or abetting it.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2024
Scholars of the history of self-immolation typically date the phenomenon to antiquity, to early Christian martyrdoms, and particularly to the Hindu practice of sati.
From Salon ● May 4, 2024
A wealthier widow, particularly from the Kshatriya or warrior caste, might throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre in an act of ritual suicide known as sati.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
They say the folklore around Padmavati has been problematic as they have glorified sati.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2018
But this did not apply so far as self-immolation was concerned, since the wives of warriors dying in battle very frequently became sati.
From The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume IV of IV Kumhar-Yemkala by Russell, R. V. (Robert Vane)
Sati was first banned in 1829 by the British colonial rulers, but the practice had continued even after India’s independence in 1947.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2024
“Cracks are widening every day and people are in fear. … It’s a time bomb,” said Atul Sati, an activist with the Save Joshimath Committee.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2023
Atul Sati, the convener of the Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti that has been protesting government inaction to stop land subsidence, said local residents had been flagging the issue for months.
From Reuters ● Jan. 7, 2023
There are only four classes of drugs that treat fungal infections, “and very few new ones in the pipeline,” said Dr. Hatim Sati, another W.H.O. official who helped to write the report.
From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2022
The one now is Monsignore Gamba del Sati.
From The Title Market by Soper, J. H. Gardner
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.
