lustration means A rite of purification, especially washing. It carries an Arena rating of 1643, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, lustration ranks #1,198 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #3,338 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #4,038 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #4,060 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
lustration is pronounced /lʌsˈtɹeɪʃən/.
Why “lustration” is a great word
A ceremonial rite of purification, or the process of purging a government of officials associated with a prior oppressive regime. From the Latin lūstrātiōnem, from lūstrāre ('to purify by washing, to make bright'). Unlike 'purification,' a general term for cleansing devoid of ritual or political specificity, or 'purging,' which stresses forceful elimination without a formal, expiatory structure, lustration carries the weight of institutional reckoning. It is the salt water scattered at the boundaries of a city after plague has passed, the public inventory of sins before a nation attempts to begin its ledger anew, or the cold weight of a dossier handed in silence under the glare of parliamentary lamps—a collective ablution that seeks to wash history from the hands of the future.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin lustratio.
noun
- A rite of purification, especially washing.
- The restoration of credibility to a government by the purging of perpetrators of crimes committed under an earlier regime.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- lustrate 78% match — Synonym of purify, to ritually cleanse or renew, particularly to do so with a propitiatory offering or (historical) the lustration, quinquennial ritual of the Roman censor to cleanse the city after a census. vs lustration →
- lustrum 76% match — A lustration: a ceremonial purification of the people of Rome performed every five years after the census. vs lustration →
- lustrative 74% match — Involving or relating to lustration. vs lustration →
- lavature 67% match — A wash (act of washing, or lotion for washing). vs lustration →
- lavation 66% match — washing or cleansing. vs lustration →
- purifying 65% match — An act of purification. vs lustration →
- ablution 62% match — The act of washing something.; Originally, the purifying of oils and other substances by emulsification with hot water; now more generally, a thorough cleansing of a precipitate or other non-dissolved substance. vs lustration →
- purificational 59% match — Of or relating to purification. vs lustration →