Definition of redeem

• v. t. - To purchase back; to regain possession of by payment of a stipulated price; to repurchase.
• v. t. - To recall, as an estate, or to regain, as mortgaged property, by paying what may be due by force of the mortgage.
• v. t. - To regain by performing the obligation or condition stated; to discharge the obligation mentioned in, as a promissory note, bond, or other evidence of debt; as, to redeem bank notes with coin.
• v. t. - To ransom, liberate, or rescue from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be forfeited, by paying a price or ransom; to ransom; to rescue; to recover; as, to redeem a captive, a pledge, and the like.
• v. t. - Hence, to rescue and deliver from the bondage of sin and the penalties of God's violated law.
• v. t. - To make good by performing fully; to fulfill; as, to redeem one's promises.
• v. t. - To pay the penalty of; to make amends for; to serve as an equivalent or offset for; to atone for; to compensate; as, to redeem an error.