MEANING
1. Action or suffering undertaken to make amends for wrongdoing or reconcile after a moral breach.
2. In Christian theology, reconciliation of God and humankind through Jesus Christ's work, especially his sacrificial death.
Use it for
Repair after betrayal, religious reconciliation, burdens of moral debt.Give guilt a practical direction rather than leaving it as atmosphere.
Words that belong together
- make atonement
- act of atonement
- atonement for wrongdoing
On the page
She rebuilt the cottage as atonement for the eviction.
He mistook punishment for atonement and never apologized.
Their reconciliation required atonement from both sides.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- atonement
Usage notes
Primary category: gothic. Focuses on repair or reconciliation, not simply feeling sorry; religious meanings vary. Usually uncountable; plural atonements for separate acts or doctrines.
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