sacrifice
/ˈsakrɪfʌɪs
/noun
1An act of slaughtering an animal or person or surrendering a possession as an offering to a deity: they offer sacrifices to the spirits [mass noun]: the ancient laws of animal sacrifice...
- Churches that have not been abandoned entirely are used for occult rites, animal sacrifices, and Black Masses.
- Among the expressions of this religion are fire walking, animal sacrifices, and rituals of possession by a deity or ancestor.
- Of course God does not need offerings from humans; the entire process of animal sacrifices and offerings is about using the physical to access the spiritual.
Synonyms
ritual slaughter, hecatomb, immolation, offering, oblation;
self-sacrifice, self-immolation
1.1An animal, person, or object offered in the act of sacrifice: a flat cake offered by the Romans as a sacrifice to their gods...
- Abraham is commanded to take his son Isaac on a journey to a mount in the land of Moriah and there offer him as a sacrifice to God.
- Well, I'll just be patient and hope and pray and offer up sacrifices to whatever god is willing to help us out.
- And the Greeks believed in their gods, they worshipped their gods, they offered up sacrifices, and they were very real to the Greeks.
Synonyms
(votive) offering, gift, oblation, victim, burnt offering
2 Christian Church Christ’s offering of himself in the Crucifixion.Christ's oblation, his total gift by the sacrifice on the cross, is the act of initiation for himself definitively, and it is valid with regard to all human beings....
- Christ was a man of peace who gave himself as a sacrifice for the world's sins - let himself be crucified rather than offer violence.
- Mrs James, whose parish includes Minety, Leigh and Ashton Keynes, has even gone as far as to try and change the shape of the crucifix a symbol of Jesus's ultimate sacrifice.
2.1The Eucharist regarded either (in Catholic terms) as a propitiatory offering of the body and blood of Christ or (in Protestant terms) as an act of thanksgiving.Debate also began in the late Middle Ages, developed in the Reformation, and continues to this day on the extent to which the Eucharist is a sacrifice....
- We are committed by that Baptism to share in the celebration of this faith in a common sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.
- The point is what God has done, and is doing in the Mass, reconciling the world to Himself through the sacrifice of Christ.
3An act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy: we must all be prepared to make sacrifices...
- Other veterans spoke about serving our country during peacetime and how important it is for citizens to make sacrifices for their freedom.
- For its part, Britain has to demonstrate that it considers the project so important that it, too, is prepared to make sacrifices.
- That dynamic is important because it spurs the individuals to make sacrifices for the good of the team.
Synonyms
giving up, abandonment, surrender, foregoing, renouncing, renunciation, renouncement, forfeiture, loss, relinquishment, resignation, abdication, signing away, yielding, ceding, waiving
renunciation, relinquishment, loss, self-sacrifice;
sacrifice something, give up things
3.1 Chess A move intended to allow the opponent to win a pawn or piece, for strategic or tactical reasons.The pawn sacrifice throws the black pieces off guard and the white rooks are ready for an invasion....
- He followed up blundering a pawn with a piece sacrifice of the desperate sort.
- Watson spends a chapter looking at positional pawn sacrifices, with particular attention given to its handling by Kasparov.
3.2 (also sacrifice bunt or sacrifice fly) Baseball A bunted or fly ball which puts the batter out but allows a base runner to advance.In 1926, the rule was changed, giving a batter credit for a sacrifice fly if any base runner advances on the catch....
- The next batter, pitcher Don Wilson advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt.
- Stacey Nuveman started the eighth inning with a sacrifice bunt to push designated runner Amanda Freed to third base.
3.3 (also sacrifice bid) Bridge A bid made in the belief that it will be less costly to be defeated in the contract than to allow the opponents to make a contract.Sometimes, a player will make a sacrifice bid and the leader will ‘meld out’ anyway....
- The Jack is your Knight and as such can always be played from a target player's hand as a sacrifice defender.
- We have constructively bid in a game-forcing auction, when an opponent makes a sacrifice bid that forces us to bid our suit at the 5-level.
verb [with object]
1Offer or kill as a religious sacrifice: the goat was sacrificed at the shrine...
- Muslims may not eat any food that has been sacrificed to idols, but kosher is fine.
- Then there is the Dakshinkhali Temple, where goats and chickens are sacrificed to a hungry goddess.
- The Bible warns against idol worship, of Moloch, for example, in which human beings, especially children, are sacrificed to appease or please a god.
Synonyms
offer up, immolate, slaughter
2Give up (something valued) for the sake of other considerations: working hard doesn’t mean sacrificing your social life...
- Salem has made it clear that it won't sacrifice its values for profit, even stating so in its annual report.
- Today, the privatisation of social services means that children are sacrificed for the sake of profit more than ever.
- We can never sacrifice democracy and the values of liberty in favour of social change.
Synonyms
give up, abandon, surrender, forgo, renounce, forfeit, relinquish, resign, abdicate, sign away, yield, cede, waive;
prostitute, betray
2.1 Chess Deliberately allow one’s opponent to win (a pawn or piece): he sacrificed his queen on the 34th move...
- Maybe this explains why Kasparov sacrificed two pawns straight out of the opening - he probably felt he could do anything and still beat this guy!
- White sacrifices a pawn in order to open the opponent's castled position.
- The Bulgarian got the party going at an early stage by sacrificing a pawn for central domination, and Kasparov had to play very accurately to maintain his balance.
2.2 Baseball Advance (a base runner) by a sacrifice: Doyle was sacrificed to second...
- He learned from his father, Sandy, a player who made a career out of doing little things like sacrificing runners and stealing bases.
- Lee led off with a single, and after Gonzalez struck out, Penny sacrificed the runner to second.
- Luis Aparicio then sacrificed runners to second and third followed by a Nellie Fox intentional walk.
2.3 [no object] Bridge Make a sacrifice bid: in that event East-West would sacrifice in six spades...
- And when he sacrificed in four spades on the next round, he made it much easier for the opponents to judge whether to bid higher or, as here, to double for penalties.
- You may raise to put pressure on the opponents, to compete for the contract or to sacrifice.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French, from Latin sacrificium; related to sacrificus 'sacrificial', from sacer 'holy'.