Meaning

One who willingly accepts being put to death or willingly accepts challenging and exposing iniquity done to oneself for adhering openly to one's religious beliefs; notably, saints canonized after red martyrdom..

Definitions by Sense

1. One who willingly accepts being put to death or willingly accepts challenging and exposing iniquity done to oneself for adhering openly to one's religious beliefs; notably, saints canonized after red martyrdom.
2. (by extension) One who sacrifices their life, station, or something of great personal value, for the sake of principle or to sustain a cause.
3. (with a prepositional phrase of cause) One who suffers greatly or constantly, even involuntarily.
4. (derogatory) Someone who exaggerates their pain and suffering in order to gain sympathy.
5. (transitive) To make someone into a martyr by putting them to death for adhering to, or acting in accordance with, some belief, especially religious; to sacrifice on account of faith or profession.
6. (transitive) To persecute.
7. (transitive) To torment; to torture.

Example Sentences

The apostle Stephen was the first Christian martyr.

Fr. Felipe Císcar Puig was a Valencian priest who is also also considered a martyr of the sacramental seal because he was martyred after keeping confessions secret during the religious persecution of the Spanish Civil War.

Stan is a martyr to arthritis, Chris a martyr to Stan's endless moaning about it.

He'd been a martyr to asthma all his life.

J.Q. Murder wears sandpaper suits Broken glass in pocket, barbed wire boots Not because he's mean, but because he's a martyr He makes Jackie Collins look like Jean-Paul Sartre

You have a great life! Stop trying to play the martyr!

Some religious and other minorities were martyred until extinction.

Hark, wretches, how I mean to martyr you. This one hand yet is left to cut your throats, Whiles that Lavinia ’tween her stumps doth hold The basin that receives your guilty blood.

Word Forms

• martyrs
• martyring
• martyred

Synonyms for martyr

Antonyms for martyr

Related Words

When Should You Use Martyr?

Use martyr when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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