From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishatonementa‧tone‧ment /əˈtəʊnmənt $ əˈtoʊn-/ noun [singular, uncountable] formal REGRET/FEEL SORRYsomething you do to show that you are sorry for having done something wrongatonement for The priest is a representative of his people, making atonement for their sin.
Examples from the Corpus
atonement• This takes me into atonement as vicarious love.• He instilled more atonement and rigidity to the order of friars.• But not knowing the crime, he could make no atonement.• I do not claim to be able to unravel the complexities of atonement.• Justice requires atonement, and justice demands reform.• But for most people here, it seems, atonement is not really the issue.• Some years ago now, a famous Methodist scholar, Vincent Taylor, wrote a trilogy on the atonement. 