Expiates

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To alleviate guilt or sin by offering compensation for wrongs done
2. To seek forgiveness through acts of contrition and restitution for misdeeds
3. Acts to remove blame or guilt by offering reparation for faults committed

Etymology: "Expiates" is the third-person singular form of "expiate," which comes from the Latin "expiātus," the past participle of "expiō," meaning "atone for." Latin "expiō" is built from "ex-," meaning "out" or "completely," and "piō," meaning "to appease" or "to make amends," so the verb originally carried the sense of appeasing a god or making full atonement for a wrong. The notion behind the word is ritual: in Roman religious practice, a fault or pollution was thought to need a formal act of appeasement before the gods would be satisfied. English took the verb directly from the Latin participle, so its core idea of paying a debt of guilt still points back to that sacred setting.

Synonyms: atones, redeems