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Sacrifice

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The act of offering something to a deity, often a life or valuable object, as an act of propitiation or worship.

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Detailed Definition
Sacrifice is a universal religious practice, from the ancient offerings in Vedic Yajna and Temple Judaism to the central Christian concept of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. It represents the giving up of something precious to establish or maintain a relationship with the divine. In poetry, sacrifice is a powerful theme for exploring devotion, loss, atonement, and redemption. It raises questions about the cost of commitment, the nature of gift-giving, and the transformative potential of surrendering the self for a higher purpose or for the sake of others.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Vedic poetry, Sacrifice (yajna) sustains cosmos: “Offer ghee to fire—Sacrifice feeds the gods”; In Christian verse, Christ’s Sacrifice redeems: “Lamb of God—Sacrifice that ends all bloodshed”; In contemporary poetry, Sacrifice is parental: “Mother’s sleepless nights—Sacrifice woven in lullabies”; Poets question Sacrifice: “Whose Sacrifice is honored? Whose is exploited?”
Additional Notes
Sacrifice ranges from Vedic yajna (offering to sustain cosmos) to Christ’s self-giving (agape love); it is not loss but exchange—giving up to receive deeper life; in poetry, sacrifice appears as parental love, artistic creation, or martyrdom, always questioning what is truly “given up” versus what is transfigured through offering.
Also Known As
Qurbani Yajna Oblation Victime
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