expiate

English

WOTD – 27 September 2008

Etymology

From Latin expiātus, past participle of expiō (“atone for”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɛk.spi.eɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

expiate (third-person singular simple present expiates, present participle expiating, simple past and past participle expiated)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To atone or make reparation for.
   • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

     The Treasurer obliged himself to expiate the injury.

   • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter CXIII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume VII, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson;  […], →OCLC, page 415:

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

   • 1888, Leo XIII, Quod Anniversarius:

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

   • 1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter VI, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg, published March 1915, →OCLC:

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

   • 2010, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, New York: Random House, →ISBN, page 335:

     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. (transitive) To make amends or pay the penalty for.
   • 1876, Jules Verne, translated by Stephen W. White, The Mysterious Island, part 2, chapter 17:

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

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     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. (transitive, obsolete) To relieve or cleanse of guilt.
   • 1829, Pierre Henri Larcher, Larcher's Notes on Herodotus, volume 2, page 195:

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

4. (transitive) To purify with sacred rites.
   • 1609, The Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], →OCLC, Devteronomie 18:10, page 435:

     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. (transitive) To wind up, bring to an end.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 22”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […]‎^[1], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC, lines 3–4:

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

Usage notes

Intransitive use, constructed with for (like atone), is obsolete in Christian usage, but fairly common in informal discussions of Islam.

Related terms

• expiation
• expiator
• expiatory

Translations

to atone

• Armenian: քավել (hy) (kʻavel)
• Bulgarian: изкупвам (bg) (izkupvam)
• Czech: odčinit pf, napravit pf
• Dutch: boeten (nl)
• Finnish: sovittaa (fi)
• Greek: εξιλεώνω (el) (exileóno)

  Ancient: ἱλάσκομαι (hiláskomai)

• Italian: espiare (it)
• Latin: expiō
• Middle English: beten
• Russian: искупа́ть (ru) n (iskupátʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: thoir èirig
• Swedish: gottgöra (sv), sona (sv)

to make amends

• Armenian: քավել (hy) (kʻavel)
• Czech: odčinit pf, napravit pf
• Dutch: goedmaken (nl)
• Finnish: sovittaa (fi), hyvittää (fi)
• German: gutmachen (de), wiedergutmachen (de)
• Greek: εξιλεώνω (el) (exileóno)

  Ancient: ἱλάσκομαι (hiláskomai)

• Italian: espiare (it)

dated: to relieve of guilt

• Finnish: antaa synninpäästö

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} afplána, ^{(please verify)} bæta fyrir, ^{(please verify)} friðþægja fyrir

Anagrams

• apexite

Latin

Verb

expiāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of expiō

Spanish

Verb

expiate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of expiar combined with te