piacle

piacle means A heinous offense that requires expiation.

Why “piacle” is a great word

A heinous offense that demands an expiatory sacrifice. From Latin piāculum, meaning 'an expiatory sacrifice, atonement, sin.' Unlike a peccadillo—a minor, forgivable misstep—or a general sacrifice, which may be offered in hope or gratitude, a piacle is the specific, dreadful price demanded for a catastrophic moral rupture. It is the ancient king sacrificing his own child to end a plague, the scapegoat driven into the wilderness bearing the tribe's collective guilt, or the pilgrim's life of penance undertaken for a single, unforgivable act—the grim arithmetic by which the unbearable weight of a wrong is made calculable, and the world is forced to balance its books.

Etymology

From Latin piāculum.

noun

A heinous offense that requires expiation.

Words closest in meaning

By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.

piaculum 90% match — An expiatory sacrifice. vs piacle →
piation 87% match — atonement or expiation. vs piacle →
piacularity 87% match — The quality of being piacular, of requiring atonement. vs piacle →
expiate 86% match — To atone or make reparation for. vs piacle →
expiation 85% match — An act of atonement for a sin or wrongdoing. vs piacle →
expiator 84% match — One who makes expiation or atonement. vs piacle →
peccancy 84% match — A sin or moral transgression. vs piacle →
propitiation 83% match — The act of propitiating; placation, atonement, similar to expiation but also involving the appeasement of anger. vs piacle →