Dictonary and Thesaurus

Definition of Sacrifice

(n.) The offering of anything to God, or to a god; consecratory rite.
(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) A sale at a price less than the cost or the actual value.
(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) To destroy; to kill.
(n.) To sell at a price less than the cost or the actual value.
(v. i.) To make offerings to God, or to a deity, of things consumed on the altar; to offer sacrifice.