Library / English Dictionary

ATONE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Turn away from sin or do penitence

Synonyms:

atone; repent

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

atonement (the act of atoning for sin or wrongdoing (especially appeasing a deity))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make amends for

Example:

expiate one's sins

Synonyms:

aby; abye; atone; expiate

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "atone" is one way to...):

compensate; correct; redress; right (make reparations or amends for)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

atonement (compensation for a wrong)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The thought was madness; it stirred the fiend within me—not I, but she, shall suffer; the murder I have committed because I am for ever robbed of all that she could give me, she shall atone.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

There was cruelty in it, doubtless, and lust and sin and sorrow; but were there not virtues to atone, robust positive virtues which did not shrink from temptation, which held their own in all the rough blasts of the work-a-day world?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A fine view and a church tower opposite atone for the many stairs, and I took a fancy to my den on the spot.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Would Mr. Darcy then consider the rashness of your original intentions as atoned for by your obstinacy in adhering to it?

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

My father always cherished the idea that he would atone for his error by leaving his possessions to us; that letter informs us that he has bequeathed every penny to the other relation, with the exception of thirty guineas, to be divided between St. John, Diana, and Mary Rivers, for the purchase of three mourning rings.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

To atone for this conduct therefore, Elinor took immediate possession of the post of civility which she had assigned herself, behaved with the greatest attention to Mrs. Jennings, talked with her, laughed with her, and listened to her whenever she could; and Mrs. Jennings on her side treated them both with all possible kindness, was solicitous on every occasion for their ease and enjoyment, and only disturbed that she could not make them choose their own dinners at the inn, nor extort a confession of their preferring salmon to cod, or boiled fowls to veal cutlets.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

It was not nearly so well done, but there was a life and spirit in it which atoned for many faults, and it recalled the past so vividly that a sudden change swept over the young man's face as he looked.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

She tried to recollect some instance of goodness, some distinguished trait of integrity or benevolence, that might rescue him from the attacks of Mr. Darcy; or at least, by the predominance of virtue, atone for those casual errors under which she would endeavour to class what Mr. Darcy had described as the idleness and vice of many years' continuance.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I am sure most people would have thought him an ugly man; yet there was so much unconscious pride in his port; so much ease in his demeanour; such a look of complete indifference to his own external appearance; so haughty a reliance on the power of other qualities, intrinsic or adventitious, to atone for the lack of mere personal attractiveness, that, in looking at him, one inevitably shared the indifference, and, even in a blind, imperfect sense, put faith in the confidence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He had just compunction enough for having done nothing for his sisters himself, to be exceedingly anxious that everybody else should do a great deal; and an offer from Colonel Brandon, or a legacy from Mrs. Jennings, was the easiest means of atoning for his own neglect.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)