Martyr

person who suffers persecution and death for advocating, refusing to renounce, and/or refusing to advocate a belief or cause, usually a religious one
(Redirected from Martyrdom)

A martyr is someone who suffers persecution and later assassination or death for advocating, renouncing (giving up), or refusing to renounce (not giving up) a religious belief or other cause, despite another person or group demanding that they do so.

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1883).

Originally it was applied only to those who suffered for their religious beliefs but now the term has come to be used in connection with people killed for a political or nationalist cause as well.

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