Originally, the killing (and often burning) of a human being or an animal as an offering to a deity; later, also the offering of an object to a deity. • A human being or an animal, or a physical object or immaterial thing (see etymology 1 sense 1.3), offered to a deity. • The offering of devotion, penitence, prayer, thanksgiving, etc., to a deity. • Jesus Christ's voluntary offering of himself to God the Father to be crucified as atonement for the sins of humankind. • The rite of Holy Communion or the Mass, regarded as (Protestantism) an offering of thanksgiving to God for Christ's crucifixion, or (Roman Catholicism) a perpetual re-presentation of Christ's sacrificial offering. • The destruction or surrender of anything for the sake of something else regarded as more urgent or valuable; also, the thing destroyed or surrendered for this purpose. • Ellipsis of sacrifice bunt or sacrifice hit (“a play in which the batter intentionally hits the ball softly with a hands-spread batting stance at the cost of an out to advance one or more runners”). • In full sacrifice bid: a bid of a contract which is unlikely to be fulfilled, that a player makes in the hope that they will incur fewer penalty points than the points likely to be gained by opponents in making their contract. • A monetary loss incurred by selling something at less than its value; also, the thing thus sold. • An act of intentionally allowing one's piece to be captured by the opponent in order to improve one's position in the game.