as in to attack
to kill (someone) for refusing to give up a belief or cause
—usually used as (be) martyred
He was martyred for his religious beliefs.
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Recent Examples of martyr
Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 13 Aug. 2024
Their mother was martyred and so was their brother.
—Antoinette Radford, CNN, 9 Aug. 2024
Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2024
White South Carolinians praised the Klansmen as martyrs of the former Confederacy.
—Brittany Friedman / Made By History, TIME, 6 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for martyr 
Verb
Herzog wasn’t martyred for his art, and he should be relieved by that.
—Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 13 Aug. 2024
Their mother was martyred and so was their brother.
—Antoinette Radford, CNN, 9 Aug. 2024
Noun
Here were dazzling, golden scenes of saints and martyrs, some of the most sensual figuration ever put to brush.
—Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2024
White South Carolinians praised the Klansmen as martyrs of the former Confederacy.
—Brittany Friedman / Made By History, TIME, 6 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for martyr
Recent Examples of Synonyms for martyr
Verb
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Trump appointee Michael Pack won confirmation from the U.S. Senate in May 2020 after a two-year wait and spent his seven-plus months in office attacking many of its journalists.—
David Folkenflik,
NPR,
23 Jan. 2025
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Were none of those people guilty as charged, even though there’s footage of them attacking police officers and one of them has already been rearrested on federal gun charges?—
Belinda Luscombe,
TIME,
23 Jan. 2025
Noun
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One needn’t bluntly insert these facts, but there are times when Zimmerman’s screenplay, aiming for a kind of universality, sacrifices potential depth.—
Lovia Gyarkye,
The Hollywood Reporter,
27 Jan. 2025
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Some even compared the water to human sacrifice, which created a bit of an eerie vibe.—
Gordon G. Chang,
Newsweek,
25 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Set during Brazil's military dictatorship in the 1970s, the film tells the story of Eunice, a mother of five who must rebuild her life after her husband Rubens, a politician opposing the regime, is tortured, killed, and listed among the Desaparecidos.—
Amanda Castro,
Newsweek,
23 Jan. 2025
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And she's long been tortured by their disappearance.—
Taylor Wilson,
USA TODAY,
21 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Of course, there was at least one huge financial loser in all of this: insurance companies.—
Greg Rosalsky,
NPR,
23 Jan. 2025
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That merely raises the dangerous specter of future lawless conduct by other poor losers and undermines the rule of law.—
Melissa Quinn,
CBS News,
22 Jan. 2025
Verb
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The talented musician and actor Hershey Felder is back in the Bay Area, this time with a show about the talented but tormented Sergei Rachmaninoff.—
Randy McMullen,
The Mercury News,
10 Jan. 2025
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Vinicius was once again tormented by old nemesis Pablo Maffeo throughout the action, and was therefore heated at full time and caught causing a rumpus in the tunnel.—
Tom Sanderson,
Forbes,
10 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Watching, Emily grows anguished at her mother’s distraction.—
Russell Shaw,
The Atlantic,
3 Jan. 2025
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South Korean officials on Monday began the slow, painstaking process of piecing together the many body parts found in the wreckage after the country’s worst plane crash in decades, as hundreds of relatives, waiting to receive the victims’ bodies, grew more anguished by the hour.—
John Yoon,
New York Times,
30 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Netanyahu is far more popular in Israel now than before the war and the Egyptian leader, who has viciously persecuted its parent organization, the global Muslim Brotherhood, has been reprieved by Western creditors in reward for maintaining a stony silence over Gaza.—
Max Rodenbeck,
TIME,
17 Jan. 2025
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The facts of the complex historical matter are somewhat simplified and compressed, but care is taken to inform the viewer — briefly — that the Mormons were persecuted in Missouri and Illinois and that church founder Joseph Smith was assassinated, to give some background to their defensiveness.—
Robert Lloyd,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Jan. 2025
Verb
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David in particular can’t seem to understand why Benji is so consistently plagued by suffering.—
Rachel Handler,
Vulture,
23 Jan. 2025
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This collaboration aims to address the wearability and content issues that have plagued previous XR devices.—
Ewan Spence,
Forbes,
21 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near martyr
Cite this Entry
“Martyr.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/martyr. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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