From Latin expiātus, past participle of expiō.

• (British, America) IPA: /ˈɛk.spi.eɪt/

expiate (expiates, present participle expiating; simple past and past participle expiated)

1. (ambitransitive) To atone or make reparation for.
   • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC ↗:

     The Treasurer obliged himself to expiate the injury.

   • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter CXIII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume VII, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson;  […], →OCLC ↗, page 415 ↗:

     At laſt, he diſtinctly pronounced theſe three words, LET THIS EXPIATE! And then, his head ſinking on his pillow, he expired; […]

   • 1888, Leo XIII, Quod Anniversarius:

     Thus those pious souls who expiate the remainder of their sins amidst such tortures will receive a special and opportune consolation, […]

   • 1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter VI, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg, published March 1915, →OCLC ↗:

     I am going out to expiate a great wrong, Paul. A very necessary feature of the expiation is the marksmanship of my opponent.

2. (transitive) To make amends or pay the penalty for.
   • 1876, Jules Verne, translated by Stephen W. White, The Mysterious Island, part 2, chapter 17:

     He had only to live and expiate in solitude the crimes which he had committed.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To relieve or cleanse of guilt.
   • 1829, Pierre Henri Larcher, Larcher's Notes on Herodotus, volume 2, page 195 ↗:

     […] and Epimenides was brought from Crete to expiate the city.

4. (transitive) To purify with sacred rites.
   • 1609, The Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], →OCLC ↗, Devteronomie 18:10, page 435 ↗:

     Neither let there be found in thee any that shal expiate his ſonne, or daughter, making them to paſſe through the fyre: or that demandeth of ſouthſayers, and obſerueth dreames and diuinations, neither let there be a ſorcerer,

5. (transitive) To wind up, bring to an end.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 22”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […]‎, London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC ↗, lines 3–4:

     But when in thee times forrwes I behould, / Then look I death my daies ſhould expiate.

• expiation
• expiator
• expiatory

• Italian: espiare
• Russian: искупа́ть

• German: gutmachen, wiedergutmachen
• Italian: espiare