atonement
Pronunciation: /əˈtəʊnm(ə)nt/
noun
- the action of making amends for a wrong or injury: he submitted his resignation as an act of atonement
- (in religious contexts) reparation or expiation for sin: an annual ceremony of confession and atonement for sin
- (the Atonement) Christian Theology the reconciliation of God and mankind through Jesus Christ.
Origin:
early 16th century (denoting unity or reconciliation, especially between God and man): from at one + -ment, influenced by medieval Latin adunamentum 'unity', and earlier onement from an obsolete verb one 'to unite'