Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To kill as a sacrifice.
- v. To kill (oneself) by fire.
- v. To destroy.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To kill as a sacrificial victim; offer in sacrifice; make a sacrifice of.
- Synonyms See sacrifice, v.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To sacrifice; to offer in sacrifice; to kill, as a sacrificial victim.
- v. To destroy by fire.
WordNet 3.0
- v. offer as a sacrifice by killing or by giving up to destruction
Etymologies
- From Latin immolō ("I sacrifice"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin immolāre, immolāt-, to sacrifice, sprinkle with sacrificial meal : in-, on; see in-2 + mola, meal, millstone; see melə- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Historically, the word immolate had been used by Fathers and theologians of the Church to refer to the eucharist as a commemoration of the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ.”
“The same day the commune applauds the deputies of a section, which "in warm terms" denounce before it the tardiness of justice and declare to it that the people will "immolate" the prisoners in their prisons (Moniteur, Nov. 10, 1793, Narrative of Pétion).”
“60s much as they do not now ... did want to "immolate" American style, coolness and in point of fact America itself.”
“Just before our arrival the driver decided to pour a gallon of petrol over his head and immolate himself.”
“A pizza oven at a true pizza cooking temp would probably immolate a truck …”
“Richard Hammond left his computer team behind in London, fiddling with a confusing virtual Earth, to help film genuinely terrifying footage of a scientist climbing the "safe" outer wall to "put some fresh lava in a science flask", like a year-four project, before realising he was about to immolate and running away like a gurl in a white suit, as the world would.”
“But he is content to let the children in the city he lords over immolate.”
“But where did this siege mentality come from, why is it so fervent, how long will it last -- and the biggest question of all: Will the movement self-immolate, or will it keep spreading its scorched-earth rebellion?”
The Washington Post: Three books on the Tea Party, reviewed by Steven Levingston
“After delivering an oration over the body, the creature vows to immolate his own body at the North Pole, and springs out the window onto the ice: "He was soon borne away by the waves, and lost in darkness and distance”
“His conscience, anyway his feeling of guilt, is his shirt of Nessus, the mythical garment that was a gift to Hercules but which when donned burst into unquenchable flame and adhered to his back until the agony caused Hercules to immolate himself on a funeral pyre.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘immolate’.
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
-
501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
-
501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
-
From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
-
501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
-
501
Classic
bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august and 401 more...
-
Just 'cause I like 'em, I
irenic, inimical, ignotism, infrangible, internecine, illumine, ingot, imposter, iconoclast, indefeasible, indefatigable, impingement and 184 more...
-
Good Words
fenestering, cetic, immanent, quickening, archetypal, shibboleth, soma, wetware, heritable, Apotheosis, halcyon, cellar door and 482 more...
-
Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
-
my GRE words
pedant, wizened, histrionic, logorrhea, frenetic, approbation, quibble, knell, acclivity, droog, prevarication, aplomb and 182 more...
-
word list!!!!
lagniappe
syzygy, bloviate, lagniappe, laconic, condign, umbrage, susurrus, thaumaturgy, capacious, capitulate, glower, repast and 179 more...
-
SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL I
iconoclast, idiosyncrasy, ignoble, ignominious, illicit, illusory, illustrious, imbibe, imbue, immaculate, immaterial, immolate and 155 more...
-
Wordwild's Delights
Delightful words to read and use
plangent, ribald, titubant, sidereal, pelagic, improvident, dolorous, parlous, baleful, precatory, pied, mephitic and 247 more...
-
traipsin' 'long through dis 'ear book...
Words which are either entirely new to me or;
Words which I comprehend generally but would prefer a more precise definition.
venality, seigneurial, mendicant, perforce, manse, glebe, trenchant, saw, obstreperous, profligate, dissipation, galliard and 176 more...
-
Sweet Smoke of Rhetoric
The ones with which I flavor my speech, and the ones I love to find peppered in literature.
perspicacious, acerbic, vituperation, loquacious, castigate, vitriolic, scintillating, provenance, frolic, attendant, pursuant, epistemology and 313 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for immolate.
dailyword Spock used this word in an episode of "Star Trek." Sep 2, 2012
sarra Yep. Jan 21, 2009
chained_bear Maybe because one usually hears the term as "self-immolation" in reference to people who burn themselves...? (Well, that's what I think of, anyway.) Jan 21, 2009
bilby There can be. Jan 21, 2009
kirinqueen For some reason I always think there should be fire involved with immolation. Jan 21, 2009