martyr

1. 1.

   kill as a martyr

   “Saint Sebastian was martyred”

   Broaderkill
2. 2.

   torture and torment like a martyr

   Synonymsmartyrizemartyrise

   Broadertorture

Other forms of martyr

plural

martyrs·

past tense

martyred·

present participle

martyring·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about martyr

What does martyr mean?

martyr means "one who suffers for the sake of principle". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in martyr?

martyr has 2 syllables: mar-tyr. The stress falls on "mar". In IPA it is /ˈmɑɹtɚ/.

What is another word for martyr?

Close synonyms include sufferer, martyrize, martyrise. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is martyr a common word?

martyr is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.