immolation

Etymology

From Middle English immolacion, from Middle French immolation, from Old French, from Latin immolatio.

Why this word is great

IMMOLATION — [Noun] The act of killing or offering as a sacrifice, especially by burning. From Middle English immolacion, from Middle French immolation, from Old French, from Latin immolatio ("sacrificial offering"), from immolare ("to sprinkle with sacrificial meal, sacrifice"), from in- ("upon") + mola ("sacrificial meal"). Unlike "sacrifice" (a broad surrender to the divine) or "suicide" (a private severance from life), immolation is spectacle, annihilation made visible. It is the monk’s saffron robes swallowed by gasoline-blue flames, the heretic’s flesh blackening on the stake, the protestor’s silhouette lingering in the air long after the body has collapsed into ash—a violence so complete it borders on devotion, where annihilation becomes the purest form of witness.

noun

The act of immolating, or the state of being immolated.“Mary heard with sorrow, and fear also, of the projected journey; but the altered expression of Isabella's countenance was a great palliative—dreadful as it was that her husband should love another (and of that distressing fact it was impossible to doubt), his confidence was consoling; and her power to prove the firmness of her character, her right to his esteem, and the immolation of her happiness”
That which is immolated; a sacrifice.
The act of maliciously burning a person.