ultimate sacrifice

English

Noun

ultimate sacrifice (plural ultimate sacrifices)

1. Death for a cause or for one's country.
   • 2000, Walter Prytulak, Paradise Regained: Prospects for a New Social Order in the Third Millennium:

     However, the selfsame individual may be called to serve in armed services in times of war, and be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice by giving up his life

   • 2002, Joe Stork, Erased in a Moment: Suicide Bombing Attacks Against Israeli Civilians, page 16:

     The organizers sought to portray the bombers as "martyrs"—that is, as heroes prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their people.

Synonyms

• supreme sacrifice
• martyrdom