martyrdom

CEFRC1

/ˈmɑː(ɹ).tə(ɹ).dəm/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The suffering or death of someone for a belief or cause.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Extreme suffering, affliction; torment; torture, especially without reason.

Examples

  • What do you think are the problems that underlie your obsession with martyrdom?

  • Tom is obsessed with martyrdom.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
3
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meaning

  1. The condition of a martyr; the death or suffering of a martyr; the death or suffering on account of adherence to the Christian faith, or to any cause.

More examples

In context

  • The Communists wanted to go on and on, suffering a comfortable martyrdom, meeting with endless defeats and afterwards putting the blame on other people.

  • The ceiling had been painted with the martyrdom of some saint. Who shall place a bound to human folly, when both the inflicter and the endurer of torture have deemed that pain is acceptable in the sight of God?

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

His death was seen as a heroic blank because he died for his principles.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English martyrdome, martirdom, marterdom, from Old English martyrdōm (“martyrdom”), corresponding to martyr + -dom. Cognate with German Märtyrertum (“martyrdom”), Danish martyrdom (“martyrdom”), Swedish martyrdom (“martyrdom”), Norwegian martyrdom (“martyrdom”).