atonement

[ uh-tohn-muhnt ]

noun

1. satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; amends.
2. (sometimes initial capital letter) Theology. the doctrine concerning the reconciliation of God and humankind, especially as accomplished through the life, suffering, and death of Christ.
3. Christian Science. the experience of humankind's unity with God exemplified by Jesus Christ.
4. Archaic. reconciliation; agreement.

atonement

/ əˈtəʊnmənt /

noun

1. satisfaction, reparation, or expiation given for an injury or wrong
2. often capital Christian theol
   1. the reconciliation of man with God through the life, sufferings, and sacrificial death of Christ
   2. the sufferings and death of Christ
3. Christian Science the state in which the attributes of God are exemplified in man
4. obsolete.
   reconciliation or agreement

Word History and Origins

Origin of atonement¹

First recorded in 1505–15; from phrase at one, at oon “in harmony” + -ment, as translation of Medieval Latin adūnāmentum; compare Middle English onement “unity”

Word History and Origins

Origin of atonement¹

C16: from Middle English phrase at onement in harmony

Example Sentences

For the first few months of this season, road trips for the Astros amounted to something like a traveling atonement carnival.

From Washington Post

Johnson notes that the conversation on reparations, which falls under atonement, needs to be expanded.

From Vox

That racial reconciliation will involve the acknowledgment of the wrong that’s been done, an apology, and atonement.

From Vox

You wrote, “His advocacy was a form of atonement but also deflection.”

From Time

Citizen Kane, at least in Mank’s telling, is equal parts his stroke of revenge and his plea for atonement.

From Vox

For all our sins, may the Force that makes forgiveness possible forgive us, pardon us, and make atonement possible.

From The Daily Beast

His public atonement and embrace of Westergaard might force Akkari himself to live with perpetual police protection.

From The Daily Beast

What do you like to snack on while writing or reading Atonement?

From The Daily Beast

Five means atonement; 10 means completeness; 17 means heaven.

From The Daily Beast

But my burden is nothing compared to her loss and the suffering her family had to endure…Atonement is a process that never ends.

From The Daily Beast

It was not alone the slaying and offering of sacrifice, but also the sprinkling of blood that made atonement.

From Project Gutenberg

You may think I'm offering myself as a sort of vicarious atonement—if your Doris fails you—but I'm not, really.

From Project Gutenberg

The old woman has died, and her daughter Chane is brought before us on the same Atonement day.

From Project Gutenberg

The reference to the "many women," "beholding afar off," forms a pathetic close to the story of the Great Atonement Day.

From Project Gutenberg

The purpose of the writer is to teach the entire separateness of Christs atonement.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• penance
• redemption
• reparation