expiatory

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

adjective having power to atone for or offered by way of expiation or propitiation

Learned borrowing from Ecclesiastical Latin expiātōrius.

Accordingly some unfortunate man, in no respect more depraved than hundreds whose offenses have been treated with lenity, is singled out as an expiatory sacrifice. — My Recollections of Lord Byron, Teresa, contessa di Guiccioli
Having therefore no evidence of law, and no knowledge of expiatory texts, sinful woman must be as foul as falsehood itself; and this is a fixed rule." — India, Its Life and Thought, John P. (John Peter) Jones
Tribal dances become expiatory and religious acts at a very early stage of culture; it is easy to see that the records would preserve such a dance only when it had lost some of its spontaneous character, and taken on a ritual form. — The Beginnings of Poetry, Francis Barton Gummere

expiative, propitiatory

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