Dictionary.net

Slaughter of animal or person, surrender of a possession, as offering to a deity, (fig.) act of prayer or thanksgiving or penitence as propitiation; what is thus slaughtered or surrendered or done, victim, offering; (Theol.) the Crucifixion, the Eucharist as either a repetition of this or an act of thanksgiving; giving up of thing for the sake of another that is higher or more urgent, thing thus given up, loss thus entailed, (will gain nothing by the s. of your principles; at some s. of regularity; surplus stock for sale at a large s.; his health was the s. demanded of him; SELF-s.); so sacrificial (-ishl) a., sacrificially adv. (Vb) offer (as) s. (to); give up, treat as secondary or of inferior importance, devote, to, (has sacrificed herself, her whole life, her pleasures, to his interest; s. accuracy to vividness); resign oneself to parting with. [French]