sacrifice

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) Originally, the killing (and often burning) of a human being or an animal as an offering to a deity; later, also the offering of an object to a deity.
2. (countable, uncountable) A human being or an animal, or a physical object or immaterial thing (see sense 1.3), offered to a deity.
3. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) The offering of devotion, penitence, prayer, thanksgiving, etc., to a deity.
4. (countable, specifically, uncountable) Jesus Christ's voluntary offering of himself to God the Father to be crucified as atonement for the sins of humankind.
5. (broadly, countable, specifically, uncountable) The rite of Holy Communion or the Mass, regarded as (Protestantism) an offering of thanksgiving to God for Christ's crucifixion, or (Roman Catholicism) a perpetual re-enactment of Christ's sacrificial offering.
6. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) The destruction or surrender of anything for the sake of something else regarded as more urgent or valuable; also, the thing destroyed or surrendered for this purpose.
7. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, figuratively, uncountable) Ellipsis of sacrifice bunt or sacrifice hit (“a play in which the batter intentionally hits the ball softly with a hands-spread batting stance at the cost of an out to advance one or more runners”).
8. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) In full sacrifice bid: a bid of a contract which is unlikely to be fulfilled, that a player makes in the hope that they will incur fewer penalty points than the points likely to be gained by opponents in making their contract.
9. (countable, dated, figuratively, slang, uncountable) A monetary loss incurred by selling something at less than its value; also, the thing thus sold.
10. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) An act of intentionally allowing one's piece to be captured by the opponent in order to improve one's position in the game.

Verb

1. (transitive) To offer (a human being or an animal, or an object) to a deity.
2. (broadly, figuratively, transitive) To destroy or kill (a human being or an animal); specifically (sciences), to kill (an animal) for a scientific experiment or test.
3. (broadly, figuratively, transitive) To destroy or surrender (something) for the sake of something else regarded as more urgent or valuable.
4. (broadly, figuratively, transitive) Of a batter: to advance (one or more runners on base) by batting the ball so it can be fielded, placing the batter out but with insufficient time to put the runner(s) out.
5. (broadly, dated, figuratively, slang, transitive) To sell (something) at less than its value, thus incurring a monetary loss.
6. (broadly, figuratively, transitive) To intentionally allow (a piece) to be captured by the opponent in order to improve one's position in the game.
7. (intransitive) To offer a human being or an animal, or an object, to a deity.
8. (broadly, figuratively, intransitive) Of a batter: to bat the ball so that it can be fielded, placing the batter out but allowing one or more runners on base to advance.
9. (broadly, figuratively, intransitive) To make a bid of a contract which is unlikely to be fulfilled, in the hope that that the player will incur fewer penalty points than the points likely to be gained by opponents in making their contract.
10. (broadly, figuratively, intransitive) To celebrate Holy Communion or Mass.

Synonyms

offering

offer

oblation

victim

worship

immolate

give

dedicate

give up

offer up

devote

scapegoat

immolation

consecrate

dupe

substitute

give alms

gift

🎁

alms

reparation

loss

sell at a sacrifice

sacrificial rite

lift up

victimize

donate

cut

sacrificial victim

expiation

ritual killing

libation

tribute

sacrificial animal

kill

🔪🩸👤

renounce

reduce

penance

propitiation

relinquishment

sell out

holocaust

casualty

forgo

forfeiture

forfeit

dedication

slaughter

exploit

decrement

expense

Translations

sacrifice

sacrifier

opfern

sacrificio

sacrificare

Opfer

sacrificar

sacrificio

sacrificar

offer

θυσιάζω

offrande

offeren

sacrifici

sacrificar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsækɹɪfaɪs/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: sacrifice

Cognate with French: sacrifice

Cognate with Italian: sagrifizio

Cognate with Occitan: sacrifici

Cognate with Portuguese: sacrificio

Cognate with Spanish: sacrificio

Inherited from Middle English: sacrificen

In summary

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k-
Proto-Italic *sakros
Latin sacer
Latin sacrum
Proto-Italic *fakjō
Latin facio
Proto-Indo-European *-yós
Old Latin -ios
Latin -ius
Latin -ium
Latin sacrificiumlbor.
Old French sacrifisebor.
Middle English sacrifice
English sacrifice
From Middle English sacrifice (“act of offering a life or object to a deity; the life or object so offered; (Christianity) act of consecrating the elements in the mass”), from Anglo-Norman sacrefiz, and Old French sacrifice, sacrifise (modern French sacrifice), from Latin sacrificium (“something offered to a deity, sacrifice”), from sacrum (“sacrifice, sacrificial rite”) + faciō (“to do, to make”) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The noun sacrum is the nominalized neuter of the adjective sacer (“devoted to a deity for sacrifice; holy, sacred”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- (“ceremony, ritual; to make sacred”), and the verb faciō is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”). Related Latin formations include sacrificus (“of or pertaining to sacrifice, sacrificial”) and sacrificō (“to make a sacrifice”).
Cognates
* Italian sagrifizio
* Occitan sacrifici
* Portuguese sacrificio
* Spanish sacrificio