martyr
Americannoun
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a person who willingly suffers death rather than renounce their religion.
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a person who is put to death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief, principle, or cause.
Her death has made her a martyr to the cause of social justice.
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a person who undergoes severe or constant suffering.
The patient was a martyr to severe headaches.
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a person who seeks sympathy or attention by feigning or exaggerating pain, deprivation, etc.
verb (used with object)
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to persecute for supporting a belief or cause, especially by putting to death.
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to torment or torture.
noun
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a person who suffers death rather than renounce his religious beliefs
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a person who suffers greatly or dies for a cause, belief, etc
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a person who suffers from poor health, misfortune, etc
he's a martyr to rheumatism
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facetious a person who feigns suffering to gain sympathy, help, etc
verb
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to kill as a martyr
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to make a martyr of
Other Word Forms
- martyrish adjective
- martyrization noun
- martyrly adverb
- unmartyred adjective
Etymology
Origin of martyr
First recorded before 900; Middle English noun martir, marter, Old English martyr from Old French and Late Latin, from Late Greek mártyr, dialect variant of Greek mártys, mártyros “witness”; verb derivative of noun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Archaeologists believe the site began as the burial place of Christian martyr St. Neophytos, said to have been killed by Roman soldiers on the shore of the lake in A.D.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025
He’s an unhappy but willing martyr whose heart is slowly breaking the entire time.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 25, 2025
But her near mythical life—a young woman floating from the heavens to save fellow Jews—made her an enduring martyr for the young Zionists who founded Israel and for their descendants who would protect it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 17, 2025
Mr Banayee says he absorbed all kinds of myths, believing that the body of a martyr would not rot and that birds would warn Muslims of incoming bomber aircraft.
From BBC • Oct. 10, 2025
He was a martyr and a hero to Castro and most Cubans.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
