Expiation, n.
Etymology: [L. expiatio: cf.F. expiation]
1. The act of making satisfaction or atonement for any crime or fault; the extinguishing of guilt by suffering or penalty. His liberality seemed to have something in it of self-abasement and expiation. W. Irving.
2. The means by which reparation or atonement for crimes or sins is made; an expiatory sacrifice or offering; an atonement. Those shadowy expiations weak, The blood of bulls and goats. Milton.
3. An act by which the treats of prodigies were averted among the ancient heathen. [Obs.] Hayward.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for expiation; he lists it under propitiation.
Where he writes about it:
Expiation is the enduring of the full penalty of a wrong or crime. — from propitiation