redemptive

[ ri-demp-tiv ]

adjective

1. serving to redeem.
2. of, relating to, or centering on redemption or salvation:

   redemptive religions.

Other Words From

• re·demptive·ly adverb
• nonre·demptive adjective
• unre·demptive adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of redemptive¹

First recorded in 1640–50; redempt(ion) + -ive

Example Sentences

A redemptive brotherhood is formed.

From Los Angeles Times

Amid the invasion of Iraq, when self-righteous stupidity was en vogue, neoconservatives Richard Perle and David Frum wrote "An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror," a paean to redemptive violence as a cure for violence.

From Salon

If Strauss, an unworldly academic lecturer, had no conceivable link with the neoconservative project to unleash redemptive war and exalt untrammeled executive power, why did two of his followers, neocon operatives Abram Shulsky and Gary Schmitt — who had both held government positions in foreign intelligence — write a 1999 essay crediting Strauss with having helped them conceptualize intelligence matters?

From Salon

The redemptive power of music is be a recurring theme: Documentarian Morgan Neville’s “Piece by Piece” uses Lego animation to chart the evolution of hitmaker Pharrell Williams, while British pop star Robbie Williams plays himself in the biographical drama “Better Man.”

From Los Angeles Times

Julian, who was afflicted with a terrible life-threatening illness at age 30, compared Christ's crucifixion to the experience of childbirth as both painful and redemptive, a mother's hardship contrasted with a father's obligation to defend his children with his body.

From Salon