expiate
History tells us that the most predictable response to disaster is a need for expiation and revenge.
The police will have the task of filtering out those who seek some confused expiation of their imagined sins.
The film is an uplifting parable of transgression, sin, expiation, and forgiveness.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Making & accepting apologies
amends
apologetically
apologize
atone for something
atonement
beg
bury
bygone
conciliatory
crawl
crawl back (to someone)idiom
forge ahead
forgive
penance
resolve your differences
shred
sink your differencesidiom
solatium
sorry to bother you
soz