as in persecuted
to kill (someone) for refusing to give up a belief or cause
—usually used as (be) martyred
He was martyred for his religious beliefs.
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Recent Examples of martyred
His desperate, lacerating Teddy is a character who has ruined his own life, who has martyred himself out of his devotion to The Truth.
—
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 28 Aug. 2025
But closer to me, and with greater incident, these phrases are inflected by the voice of Hiba Abu Nada, the Gazan poet who was martyred in an Israeli airstrike on October 20, 2023.
—Huda Fakhreddine
august 28, Literary Hub, 28 Aug. 2025
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 28 Aug. 2025
But closer to me, and with greater incident, these phrases are inflected by the voice of Hiba Abu Nada, the Gazan poet who was martyred in an Israeli airstrike on October 20, 2023.
—Huda Fakhreddine
august 28, Literary Hub, 28 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for martyred
Verb
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His deportation to El Salvador violated a 2019 court order that protected him from being deported to his home country because of concerns that he’d be persecuted by violent gangs.—
Marlene Lenthang,
NBC news,
25 Aug. 2025
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Criminals are to be persecuted.—
Tommy Trenchard,
NPR,
23 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Emily Brontë appears in every way indifferent to the need for love and companionship that tortured the lives of her sisters.—
Emily Temple
September 5,
Literary Hub,
5 Sep. 2025
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Several women were tortured and gang raped.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
29 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Tonges, who before Sunday’s game had never caught a regular-season pass, attacked the ball and gave San Francisco the lead.—
Michael-Shawn Dugar,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
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The occurrences grew more aggressive over time, with the Smurls' 75-pound German shepherd getting slammed into a wall and Jack getting attacked while praying.—
Jessica Sager,
PEOPLE,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Omar, tormented by the first girl’s dying screams, enlists the help of his exhausted supervisor, Rana (Saja Kilani, riveting), who was on her way home after a long shift when Hind’s predicament first crossed his screen.—
Sheri Linden,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Sep. 2025
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Melvin is tormented by a quartet of bullies and ends up falling out of a second-story window into a drum of toxic waste.—
Jennifer Ouellette,
ArsTechnica,
25 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Staci Ibarra, another warden who left the department in May — after she was put on administrative leave in the wake of an inmate’s death — assailed a practice in which maximum security inmates had their classification downgraded.—
Perry Vandell,
AZCentral.com,
30 Aug. 2025
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Republicans historically have assailed federal efforts under Democrats to pick winners and losers in the broader economy.—
Kristina Karisch,
The Hill,
26 Aug. 2025
Verb
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But Thomas was afflicted by health troubles on the 26-56 Nets last year.—
Alex Kirschenbaum,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Sep. 2025
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The World Health Organization states that in 2021 alone, nearly 57 million people were afflicted with some form of dementia.—
Forbes.com,
Forbes.com,
31 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Landslide in western Sudan kills at least 1,000 A landslide in western Sudan killed at least 1,000 people, intensifying hardship in a country besieged by years of civil war.—
Tasneem Nashrulla,
semafor.com,
4 Sep. 2025
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Validated Insights To even the most casual observer, these must feel like belligerent times in higher education – surrounded by fires, besieged, and under crushing market pressures all at once.—
Derek Newton,
Forbes.com,
21 Aug. 2025
Verb
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But the new film, set in 1986, finds the Warrens dealing with a bunch of personal matters, as well as a Pennsylvania family haunted by a mirror cursed with malevolent spirits.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
3 Sep. 2025
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In Ovid’s version of the story, after cutting down a sacred oak, Erysichthon is cursed with insatiable hunger by the dryad nymph who inhabited it.—
Ellen Walker,
JSTOR Daily,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Martyred.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/martyred. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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