martyr

Syllables: mar·tyr/ˈmɑːtə(ɹ)/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈmɐːtə(ɹ)/

martyr noun: one who willingly accepts being put to death or willingly accepts challenging and exposing iniquity done to oneself for adhering openly to one's religious beliefs; notably, saints canonized after red martyrdom.

Noun

martyr (plural martyrs)

One who willingly accepts being put to death or willingly accepts challenging and exposing iniquity done to oneself for adhering openly to one's religious beliefs; notably, saints canonized after red martyrdom.
- The apostle Stephen was the first Christian martyr.
- Fr. Felipe Císcar Puig was a Valencian priest who is also also considered a martyr of the sacramental seal because he was martyred after keeping confessions secret during the religious persecution of the Spanish Civil War.2017 December 16, “These priests were martyred for refusing to violate the seal of confession”, in Catholic News Agency
(broadly) One who sacrifices their life, station, or something of great personal value, for the sake of principle or to sustain a cause.
One who suffers greatly or constantly, even involuntarily.
- Stan is a martyr to arthritis, Chris is a martyr to Stan's endless moaning about it.
- He'd been a martyr to asthma all his life.1937, AJ Cronin, The Citadel
(derogatory) Someone who exaggerates their pain and suffering in order to gain sympathy.
- You have a great life! Stop trying to play the martyr!

Verb

martyr (third-person singular simple present martyrs, present participle martyring, simple past and past participle martyred)

(transitive) To make someone into a martyr by putting them to death for adhering to, or acting in accordance with, some belief, especially religious; to sacrifice on account of faith or profession.
- Fr. Felipe Císcar Puig was a Valencian priest who is also also considered a martyr of the sacramental seal because he was martyred after keeping confessions secret during the religious persecution of the Spanish Civil War.2017 December 16, “These priests were martyred for refusing to violate the seal of confession”, in Catholic News Agency
(transitive) To persecute.
- Some religious and other minorities were martyred until extinction.
(transitive) To torment; to torture.
- Hark, wretches, how I mean to martyr you.
  This one hand yet is left to cut your throats,
  Whiles that Lavinia ’tween her stumps doth hold
  The basin that receives your guilty blood.c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- […]The louely Amoret, whoſe gentle hart
  Thou martyreſt with ſorow and with ſmart,[…]1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 94

martyr meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

martyr in Hindi

one willing to be killed or persecuted for religion: हुतात्मा hutātmā, बलिदानी balidānī, शहीद śahīd
one who sacrifices their life for an important cause: हुतात्मा hutātmā, बलिदानी balidānī, शहीद śahīd
one who suffers greatly, even involuntarily: बलिदानी balidānī
to make someone a martyr: शहीद करना śahīd karnā, क़ुरबान करना qurbān karnā

martyr in Tamil

தியாகி, வேதசாட்சி

martyr in Marathi

a martyr: हुतात्मा hutātmā

martyr in Urdu

one willing to be killed or persecuted for religion: شَہِید śahīd
one who sacrifices their life for an important cause: شَہِید śahīd

More languagesFewer languages

martyr in Bengali: শহীদ śohid
martyr in Telugu: అమరవీరుడు
martyr in Malayalam: രക്തസാക്ഷി raktasākṣi, സഹദാ sahadā, രക്തസാക്ഷിയാക്കുക raktasākṣiyākkuka
martyr in Kannada: ಹುತಾತ್ಮ
martyr in Punjabi: ਸ਼ਹੀਦ śahīd
martyr in Gujarati: શહીદ
martyr in Odia: ସହିଦ, ଶହୀଦ
martyr in Sanskrit: हुतात्मन् hutātman
martyr in Nepali: शहीद, शहीदलाई
martyr in Pashto: شهيد šahíd
martyr in Arabic: شُهَدَاء šuhadāʔ, شَهِيد šahīd, شَهِيدَة šahīda
martyr in Malay: syahid, martir
martyr in Indonesian: syahid, martir
martyr in Thai: มรณสักขี mɔɔ-rá-ná-sàk-kǐi

Examples of martyr in a sentence

As a child she had nothing to read but the legends of early Christian martyrs.
Saint Stephen was the first martyr.
Long before Edward I, the English had a King Edward who they considered a martyr and a King Edward who they considered a confessor.

All 33 example sentences with martyr

Synonyms of martyr

martyrize

Antonyms

Forms of martyr

Noun
plural	martyrs
Verb
third-person singular present	martyrs
present participle	martyring
past participle	martyred
past	martyred

Past tense of martyr: martyred

Plural of martyr: martyrs

Origin of martyr

From Middle English martir, from Old English martyr, itself a borrowing from Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).

Words formed from martyr

Words that rhyme with martyr

Questions about martyr

What does martyr mean?: Martyr means one who willingly accepts being put to death or willingly accepts challenging and exposing iniquity done to oneself for adhering openly to one's religious beliefs; notably, saints canonized after red martyrdom.
What is martyr in Hindi?: Martyr in Hindi is हुतात्मा (hutātmā), बलिदानी (balidānī), शहीद (śahīd). See Martyr meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is martyr?: Martyr can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce martyr?: Martyr is pronounced /ˈmɐːtə(ɹ)/ (Australia).
What is the plural of martyr?: The plural of martyr is martyrs.

Words near martyr in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: martyr (page history and authors); martyr (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); हुतात्मा (Marathi) (page history and authors); martyr (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); martyr (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); martyr (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); martyr (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); हुतात्मन् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); martyr (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-martyr.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-martyr.wav.

Cite this entry: “martyr.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/martyr. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.