ATONE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does atone mean? 

• ATONE (verb)
  The verb ATONE has 2 senses:

1. make amends for

2. turn away from sin or do penitence

  Familiarity information: ATONE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ATONE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they atone    ... he / she / it atones   
Past simple: atoned   
Past participle: atoned   
-ing form: atoning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make amends for

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

aby; abye; atone; expiate

Context example:

expiate one's sins

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Turn away from sin or do penitence

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

atone; repent

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

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

 Context examples 

Deeply as I have sinned, I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her grandfather often called her 'Beth', and her grandmother watched over her with untiring devotion, as if trying to atone for some past mistake, which no eye but her own could see.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

After which he murmured, It will atone—it will atone.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The living in incessant noise was, to a frame and temper delicate and nervous like Fanny's, an evil which no superadded elegance or harmony could have entirely atoned for.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

There are inconveniences attending such feelings as Marianne's, which all the charms of enthusiasm and ignorance of the world cannot atone for.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Their society can afford no pleasure that will atone for such wretchedness as this!

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Without any reason that could justify, any apology that could atone for the abruptness, the rudeness, nay, the insolence of it.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I feel, as it is, that I have caused her great pain and worry. I shall have to do much living to atone for it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“My Lady Avon and gentlemen,” said he, “if I have sinned in this matter, and I freely confess that I have done so, I only know one way in which I can atone for it, and that is by making the full and complete confession which my noble master, Lord Avon, has demanded.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I fancy that every one of his cases has found its way into your collection, and I must admit, Watson, that you have some power of selection, which atones for much which I deplore in your narratives.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)