expiatory.

Intended to make amends for guilt or wrongdoing.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• expiatory sacrifice
• expiatory act

On the page

The journey was described as an expiatory act for the broken vow.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror / gothic. Forms: Normally non-gradable; no ordinary comparative or superlative. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: uncommon.