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¹sacrifice

noun sac·ri·fice \ˈsa-krə-ˌfīs, also -fəs or -ˌfīz\

: the act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone

: an act of killing a person or animal in a religious ceremony as an offering to please a god

: a person or animal that is killed in a sacrifice

Full Definition of SACRIFICE

: an act of offering to a deity something precious; especially : the killing of a victim on an altar

: something offered in sacrifice

a : destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else

b : something given up or lost <the sacrifices made by parents>

: loss <goods sold at a sacrifice>

: sacrifice hit

See sacrifice defined for English-language learners

See sacrifice defined for kids

Origin of SACRIFICE

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin sacrificium, from sacr-, sacer + facere to make — more at do

First Known Use: 13th century

Related to SACRIFICE

Synonyms: immolation, offering, victim

Other Religion (Eastern and Other) Terms

Zen, antinomian, avatar, gnosticism, illuminati, ineffable, karma, koan, mantra

Rhymes with SACRIFICE

asking price, break the ice, cockatrice, comma splice, dirty rice, edelweiss, hammer price, imprecise, market price, merchandise, on thin ice, overprice, paradise, point-device, reserve price, roll the dice, Spanish rice, sticker price, underprice, water ice, wellhead price

²sacrifice

verb

: to give up (something that you want to keep) especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone

: to kill (a person or animal) in a religious ceremony as an offering to please a god

baseball : to make a sacrifice bunt

sacrificedsacrific·ing

Full Definition of SACRIFICE

transitive verb

: to offer as a sacrifice

: to suffer loss of, give up, renounce, injure, or destroy especially for an ideal, belief, or end

: to sell at a loss

: to advance (a base runner) by means of a sacrifice hit

: to kill (an animal) as part of a scientific experiment

intransitive verb

: to make or perform the rites of a sacrifice

: to make a sacrifice hit in baseball

— sac·ri·fic·er noun

See sacrifice defined for English-language learners

First Known Use of SACRIFICE

14th century

Related to SACRIFICE

Synonyms: immolate, offer

SACRIFICE Defined for Kids

¹sacrifice

noun sac·ri·fice \ˈsa-krə-ˌfīs\

Definition of SACRIFICE for Kids

: the act or ceremony of making an offering to God or a god especially on an altar

: something offered as a religious act

: an act of giving up something especially for the sake of someone or something else <We were happy to make a sacrifice of our time to help a friend in need.>

: something given up especially for the sake of helping others

Word Root of SACRIFICE

The Latin word sacer, meaning “holy,” and the related word sānctus, also meaning “holy,” give us the roots sacr and sanct. Words from the Latin sacer or sānctus have something to do with holiness. A sanctuary is a holy place. Anything sacred is holy. To sacrifice is to dedicate as a holy offering to a god.