Thesaurus results for ATONING

atoning

verb

present participle of atone

as in confessing

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for atoning

Verb

The second season of the Netflix hit ended on a cliffhanger with Jackie (Rodriguez) and Cole (LaLonde) finally confessing their feelings for each other, but Cole’s brother — and Jackie’s boyfriend — Alex (Gentry) hears the confession.

— Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 15 July 2026
During her trial, prosecutors played a recording of Yang confessing to Reuter's murder to a friend who was wearing a wire.

— Adam Harrington, CBS News, 29 June 2026

Definition of confessing

Verb

Part of that is the team’s fault, as Boone and Cashman have spent much of his career staunchly defending and excusing the former first-round pick’s poor play.

— Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 8 July 2026
The royal mom also asked to see a poem that Ejran wrote, before excusing herself to continue her tour.

— Janine Henni, PEOPLE, 6 July 2026

Definition of excusing

Verb

The overnight removal and replacement of the panels, steps from Independence Hall, sparked outrage from Philadelphia officials and activists who say federal authorities are whitewashing the city’s history of slavery.

— Corey Williams, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2026
Clark accused some board members of whitewashing history after Young amended the curriculum to remove one definition of slavery for third-graders, citing redundancy.

— Rachel Royster. Produced with AI assistance, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 July 2026

Definition of whitewashing

Verb

In 1994, a stipulation was added to allow a team to petition the Commissioner for permission to have players’ names put on the Stanley Cup if extenuating circumstances prevented them from being available to play.

— Sean Gentille, New York Times, 10 July 2026
But, generally, only one property can be claimed, unless there are extenuating circumstances.

— Bryan Mena, CNN Money, 30 June 2026

Definition of extenuating

Verb

Organizations that approach agentic AI this way build foundational capabilities that span dozens of workflows and shift the ROI conversation from justifying each agent individually to achieving compounding returns across the enterprise.

— Joe Locandro, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
Another issue is the characterization of the country’s Citizenship by Investment Program, which the White House cited in justifying the travel restrictions.

— Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 18 July 2026

Definition of justifying

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Cite this Entry

Style

“Atoning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/atoning. Accessed 25 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of atoning

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

vituperate

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 24

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?

Popular

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Games & Quizzes