Definition of "atonement" []

• Amends or reparation made for an injury or wrong; expiation. (noun)
• Reconciliation or an instance of reconciliation between God and humans. (noun)
• Christianity The reconciliation of God and humans brought about by the redemptive life and death of Jesus. (noun)
• Obsolete Reconciliation; concord. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The word atonement is one of a very few theological terms that can be explained in a helpful way through its English form."
• "It strikes me that what they call the atonement is a kind of moral bankruptcy."
• "Indeed, as has already been remarked, it is quite synonymous with the term atonement, involving the same ideas and serving the same purposes."