sacrifice

CEFRB1

/ˈsæk.ɹɪ.faɪs/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To give up something valuable for a purpose or someone else.

  2. 02

    noun

    Something valuable given up for a purpose or person.

Examples

  • Making a choice always means making a sacrifice, giving up one thing for another.

  • The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /-faɪz/
  • /ˈsæk.ɹɪ.fɑes/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. A human being or an animal, or a physical object or immaterial thing (see etymology 1 sense 1.3), offered to a deity.

  2. The offering of devotion, penitence, prayer, thanksgiving, etc., to a deity.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. Originally, the killing (and often burning) of a human being or an animal as an offering to a deity; later, also the offering of an object to a deity.

More examples

In context

  • They killed a goat as a sacrifice to God.

  • Venison has many advantages over meat from factory farms, although it still requires a hunter to sacrifice the life of a deer.

  • the sacrifice of one’s spare time in order to volunteer

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

To save the village from famine, the leader had to blank his own food supplies.

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

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English sacrifice (“act of offering a life or object to a deity; the life or object so offered”), from Anglo-Norman sacrefiz, and Old French sacrifice, sacrifise (modern French sacrifice), from Latin sacrificium (“something offered to a deity, sacrifice”), from sacrum (“sacrifice, sacrificial rite”) + faciō (“to do, to make”) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The noun sacrum is the nominalized neuter of the adjective sacer (“devoted to a deity for sacrifice; holy, sacred”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- (“ceremony, ritual; to make sacred”), and the verb faciō is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”). Related Latin formations inc...