expiate — English Dictionary

Verb

1. To atone or make reparation for.

   Usage

   • Transitive or intransitive

   Examples

   The Treasurer obliged himself to expiate the injury.

   At laſt, he diſtinctly pronounced theſe three words, LET THIS EXPIATE! And then, his head ſinking on his pillow, he expired; […]

   More examples (3)

   Thus those pious souls who expiate the remainder of their sins amidst such tortures will receive a special and opportune consolation, […]

   I am going out to expiate a great wrong, Paul. A very necessary feature of the expiation is the marksmanship of my opponent.

   The first change of regime came with the release of my more difficult mathematical, empirical, and scholarly work in a dozen articles in a variety of journals in an attempt to expiate my crime of having sold too many books.

2. To make amends or pay the penalty for.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   He had only to live and expiate in solitude the crimes which he had committed.

   More examples (1)

   And when it was required of him by the rigid laws of a haphazard justice, which in retrospect seems like every night of the week, he pressed his limp forelock into a filthy washbasin, clutched a tap in each throbbing hand, and expiated a string of crimes he didn't know he had committed until they were thoughtfully explained to him between each stroke by Mr. Willow or his representatives.

3. To relieve or cleanse of guilt.

   Usage

   • Obsolete
   • Transitive

   Examples

   […] and Epimenides was brought from Crete to expiate the city.

4. To purify with sacred rites.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Neither let there be found in thee any that shal expiate his ſonne, or daughter, making them to paſſe through the fyre: or that demandeth of ſouthſayers, and obſerueth dreames and diuinations, neither let there be a ſorcerer,

5. To wind up, bring to an end.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   But when in thee times forrwes I behould, / Then look I death my daies ſhould expiate.

Verb

1. make amends for

   Synonyms

   abyabyeatone

   Broader terms

   rightcompensateredresscorrect

   Examples

   expiate one's sins