Expiate
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈɛk.spi.eɪt/
Origin
From Latin expiatum, past participle of expiÅ ("atone for").
Full definition of expiate
Verb
- (transitive or intransitive) To atone or make reparation for.
- ClarendonThe Treasurer obliged himself to expiate the injury.
- 1888, Leo XIII, "",Thus those pious souls who expiate the remainder of their sins amidst such tortures will receive a special and opportune consolation, ...
- 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, ,I am going out to expiate a great wrong, Paul. A very necessary feature of the expiation is the marksmanship of my opponent.
- (transitive) To make amends or pay the penalty for.
- 1876, Jules Verne, translated by Stephen W. White, , part 2, ,He had only to live and expiate in solitude the crimes which he had committed.
- (transitive, obsolete) To relieve or cleanse of guilt.
- 1829, Pierre Henri Larcher, Larcher's Notes on Herodotus, vol. 2, p. 195,... and Epimenides was brought from Crete to expiate the city.
- To purify with sacred rites.
- Bible, Deuteronomy xviii. 10 (Douay version)Neither let there be found among you any one that shall expiate his son or daughter, making them to pass through the fire.
Usage notes
Intransitive use, constructed with for (like atone), is obsolete in Christian usage, but fairly common in informal discussions of Islam.