immolate means immolated, sacrificed. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.
immolate is pronounced /ˈɪm.əʊ.leɪt/.
Why “immolate” is a great word
IMMOLATE — [Verb] To kill or destroy, especially by fire, often in a ritualistic sacrifice. From Latin immolātus, past participle of immolō ('to sacrifice'), from in- ('on, upon') and mola ('mill, ground meal'), referring to the sprinkling of sacrificial meal. Unlike 'sacrifice' — a general term for any offering to a deity — or 'cremate' — the clinical burning of a corpse — to immolate binds fiery destruction inextricably to ritual offering. It is the gilded bull collapsing into its own pyre, the martyr's robe catching at the stake, the saffron-robed monk seated in stillness as the petrol ignites — a terrible fusion where the moment of annihilation becomes the moment of devotion, and fire is not merely an agent of death, but the very language of its dedication.
Etymology
The adjective is first attested in 1534, the verb in 1548; borrowed from Latin immolātus, perfect passive participle of immolō (“to sacrifice”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).
adj
- Immolated, sacrificed.
verb
- To kill as a sacrifice by burning.“Evidently some, or all, of the boars immolated themselves, for the train crew are reported to have picked up three dead boars and continued to Sézanne, the next stop, where they gave them to the local hospital cooks.”
- To kill, harm, or destroy by fire.“She imparted these stories gradually to Miss Crawley; gave her the whole benefit of them; felt it to be her bounden duty as a Christian woman and mother of a family to do so; had not the smallest remorse or compunction for the victim whom her tongue was immolating; nay, very likely thought her act was quite meritorious, and plumed herself upon her resolute manner of performing it.”