How to Use martyrdom in a Sentence

martyrdom

noun
  • Stewart has been clear that the goal is not martyrdom in the kitchen.
    — Hanna Wickes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 June 2026
  • Your project, after all, is a means to an end, not a cause that requires martyrdom.
    — Abdo Riani, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2023
  • Of course the martyrdom of those young people 60 years ago helped to change the world.
    — John Archibald | [email protected], al, 15 Sep. 2023
  • The apostle was believed to have met his martyrdom by being flayed alive.
    — Virginia Raguin, The Conversation, 19 Feb. 2026
  • History was a big theme, as was martyrdom.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 22 Sep. 2025
  • That is hardly a cause worthy of martyrdom.
    — Fintan O’Toole, The New York Review of Books, 9 Apr. 2026
  • Do Black audiences care to face the agony of the boy’s martyrdom?
    — Brandon Wilson, Chron, 20 Oct. 2022
  • What will be their reward for their loss of innocence, their martyrdom?
    — Nicole Flattery, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025
  • So, in a way, this would be kind of anti-Baroque, anti-martyrdom.
    — Erik Morse, Vogue, 31 Mar. 2023
  • For many there, Soleimani was a symbol, a folk hero, now enshrined in martyrdom.
    — CBS News, 10 Jan. 2020
  • Since then, martyrdom has held a central place among Shiites.
    — Eric Lob, The Conversation, 2 Mar. 2026
  • If the drama turns to martyrdom, the chore becomes heavier.
    — Magi Helena, Dallas Morning News, 28 Mar. 2026
  • But his campaign will be largely about himself and his martyrdom for his people.
    — Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 28 Aug. 2023
  • By the close of this passage, Cyrus seems to have rejected the idea of art martyrdom.
    — Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2024
  • But not if their only purpose in the plot is virtual martyrdom.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 13 July 2022
  • Heyer was a voice for the disenfranchised, friends say, but no one could push her out of the way of martyrdom.
    — Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN, 1 Sep. 2017
  • More clear-eyed now, Jean must reject her martyrdom and reclaim her own truth and agency.
    — Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2026
  • Their highest goal is death through jihad; every death is, to them, a martyrdom to be replaced by the next.
    — Noa Tishby, New York Daily News, 1 May 2025
  • His prison diary, featured in the book, reads like a journey into martyrdom.
    — Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
  • But the capital of liberty and culture turned out to be a scene of martyrdom.
    — Adam Kirsch, WSJ, 18 Dec. 2020
  • These images have all the drama of paintings of Catholic martyrdoms.
    — Carolina A. Miranda, Los Angeles Times, 17 Feb. 2024
  • Both of them do too much—Candy with a smile, Betty with the sourness of martyrdom.
    — John Anderson, WSJ, 5 May 2022
  • The heavy chiaroscuro is as likely to illuminate your martyrdom as your glory.
    — Jason Farago, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2025
  • Not content to tell a success story, Smith sells a martyrdom story.
    — Armond White, National Review, 11 Feb. 2022
  • The full extent of his martyrdom is hard to measure over the course of a movie that barely engages with anything beyond its own bile.
    — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Was Pelley going for martyrdom or just angry?
    — Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 4 June 2026
  • On that day, the white supremacists are said to take the ferry over to commemorate the martyrdom of a hero to their cause.
    — Erik Lacitis, The Seattle Times, 31 Dec. 2018
  • Not for ego, or martyrdom, but because aligned leaders multiply impact.
    — Nell Derick Debevoise, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
  • In the sculpture, he is shown holding the scimitar that killed him in one hand and a palm frond, symbolic of martyrdom, in the other.
    — NOLA.com, 20 Oct. 2020
  • Jihadi clerics have exhorted Uighurs to take up holy war and reap the rewards of martyrdom.
    — Washington Post, 22 Dec. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'martyrdom.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: