Word of the Day

expiate \EK-spee-ayt\, transitive verb:
To make amends for; to atone for.

Then his devout and long-suffering widow, a princess born, built a beautiful church on the estate to expiate his sins.
-- Serge Schmemann, [1] Echoes of a Native Land

And if you have offended each other, you expiate your sins and offenses by confessing them and apologizing.
--Aung San Suu Kyi, [2] The Voice of Hope

The characters often attempt, however futilely, to expiate their past mistakes.
--Michael Ruhlman, "A Writer at His Best." [3] New York Times, September 20, 1987

Expiate comes from Latin expiare, from ex-, here used intensively, + piare, to seek to appease by an offering, to make good, to atone for, from pius, dutiful.
The act of expiating is expiation; that which serves to expiate is expiatory.