expiation

noun

ex·​pi·​a·​tion ˌek-spē-ˈā-shən How to pronounce expiation (audio)
1
a
: the act of expiating something : the act of extinguishing the guilt incurred by something
… the Mass, the principal church ceremony that celebrates the sacrifice of Christ for the expiation of the original sin of Adam and Eve.The Root (online)
b
: the act or process of making atonement for something
When the available files failed to provide a complete picture of Argentine complicity, what began as an attempt at public expiation and national exorcism of its Nazi ghosts ended in depictions of Argentina as even more entangled in and haunted by its Nazi past.Victoria Allison
2
: the means by which expiation or atonement is made
Well, all I can do now is to carry out his wishes; that will be my expiation for my neglect.Bram Stoker
You wanted to write about the way people left so much food on their plates and crumpled a few dollar bills down, as though it were an offering, expiation for the wasted food.Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Examples of expiation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The man who devised the road map for the expiation of German guilt was the philosopher and psychoanalyst Karl Jaspers, who in 1945 gave a series of influential lectures at the University of Heidelberg that were later collected in a book titled The Question of German Guilt. Orville Schell, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2017 Apollo was a villain in the first Rocky film, a more nuanced antagonist in the second, a best friend and guru in the third, and a pretext for revenge and the expiation of guilt in the fourth. Vulture, 4 Feb. 2024 In that lighter air of expiation, women lit candles on the edge of the street that led from the shrine to the place that marked Hussein’s camp on the field of battle. Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2023 Many religious communities around the world include an injunction to acknowledge wrongdoing through expiation. Will Stephenson, Harper's Magazine, 16 Aug. 2023 See all Example Sentences for expiation 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'expiation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

Time Traveler
The first known use of expiation was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near expiation

Cite this Entry

“Expiation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expiation. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.

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