Meaning of 'sacrifice' (Webster Dictionary)
- The offering of anything to God, or to a god;
consecratory rite.
- Anything consecrated and offered to God, or to a
divinity; an immolated victim, or an offering of any kind, laid upon an
altar, or otherwise presented in the way of religious thanksgiving,
atonement, or conciliation.
- Destruction or surrender of anything for the sake of
something else; devotion of some desirable object in behalf of a higher
object, or to a claim deemed more pressing; hence, also, the thing so
devoted or given up; as, the sacrifice of interest to pleasure, or of
pleasure to interest.
- A sale at a price less than the cost or the actual
value.
- To make an offering of; to consecrate or present to a
divinity by way of expiation or propitiation, or as a token
acknowledgment or thanksgiving; to immolate on the altar of God, in
order to atone for sin, to procure favor, or to express thankfulness;
as, to sacrifice an ox or a sheep.
- Hence, to destroy, surrender, or suffer to be lost, for
the sake of obtaining something; to give up in favor of a higher or
more imperative object or duty; to devote, with loss or suffering.
- To destroy; to kill.
- To sell at a price less than the cost or the actual
value.
- To make offerings to God, or to a deity, of things
consumed on the altar; to offer sacrifice.
Meaning of 'sacrifice' (Princeton's WordNet)
Meaning (1):
- a loss entailed by giving up or selling something at less than its value
Example in sentence:- he had to sell his car at a considerable sacrifice
Meaning (2):
- endure the loss of
Example in sentence:- He gave his life for his children;
- I gave two sons to the war
Meaning (3):
- kill or destroy
Example in sentence:- The animals were sacrificed after the experiment;
- The general had to sacrifice several soldiers to save the regiment
Definition
[ n.]