martyr.
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.
Meaning & usage
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.
The apostle Stephen was the first Christian martyr.
One who sacrifices their life, station, or something of great personal value, for the sake of principle or to sustain a cause.
One who suffers greatly or constantly, even involuntarily.
Stan is a martyr to arthritis, Chris is a martyr to Stan's endless moaning about it.
Someone who exaggerates their pain and suffering in order to gain sympathy.
You have a great life! Stop trying to play the martyr!
Where this word comes from
From Middle English martir, from Old English martyr, itself a borrowing from Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).
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.
To persecute.
Some religious and other minorities were martyred until extinction.
To torment; to torture.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English martir, from Old English martyr, itself a borrowing from Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.