mummify
Americanverb (used with object)
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mummifies,
present (3rd person singular)
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mummified,
past participle, past
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mummifying
present participle
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to make (a dead body) into a mummy, as by embalming and drying.
-
to make (something) resemble a mummy; dry or shrivel up.
The dead lizard was mummified by the hot desert air.
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to preserve (an idea, institution, custom, etc.) that may have outlived its usefulness or relevance.
Those mummified customs have no place in society today.
verb (used without object)
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mummifies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
mummified,
past participle, past
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mummifying
present participle
verb
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(tr) to preserve the body of (a human or animal) as a mummy
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(intr) to dry up; shrivel
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(tr) to preserve (an outdated idea, institution, etc) while making lifeless
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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mummifysimple
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mummifiessimple
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have mummifiedperfect
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has mummifiedperfect
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am mummifyingprogressive
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are mummifyingprogressive
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is mummifyingprogressive
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have been mummifyingperfect progressive
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has been mummifyingperfect progressive
Past
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mummifiedsimple
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had mummifiedperfect
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was mummifyingprogressive
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were mummifyingprogressive
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had been mummifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mummify
Explanation
To mummify is to make a mummy — to prepare a dead body for preservation after burial. Ancient Egyptians would often mummify bodies by wrapping them in cloth. Don't try that at home! Many cultures have had a tradition of mummification — in other words, they would mummify their dead, often to insure a happy afterlife, by removing the internal organs, treating the body with minerals and oils, and wrapping it. Sometimes burial conditions, like a very dry location, have served to accidentally mummify a body. Mummify adds the verb-forming suffix fy to mummy, rooted in the Arabic mumiyah.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Hot deserts are just one of many environments in which corpses naturally mummify.
From National Geographic ● Aug. 7, 2023
Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the workshops had been used to mummify humans and sacred animals.
From Washington Times ● May 27, 2023
That gave the animal’s skin a chance to mummify.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 14, 2022
That means they used mortuary practices to conserve the bodies rather than leave them to naturally mummify in the dry climate - although some naturally mummified bodies have also been found at the sites.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2021
The afternoon had become as hot as meanness, and since the shirt he was wearing had enough starch in it to mummify two, maybe three, pharaohs, he began to feel he could hardly breathe.
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
In honeybees, this fungus causes an illness known as stonebrood disease, which mummifies the young bees.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2023
She was recently packing for a trip to visit Summum, a group in Utah that mummifies pets.
From New York Times ● Oct. 11, 2011
Your team mummifies you with five tight belts.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is often claimed that phosphorus eaten by rats or mice dries up or mummifies the body so that no odor results.
From House Rats and Mice Farmers' Bulletin 896 by David E. Lantz
And, again rightly or wrongly, I have also contended that the hand of purpose deadens and mummifies story.
From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century by George Saintsbury
He remained frozen in the ice until two German hikers stumbled across his mummified remains in 1991 in the northern Italian region of South Tyrol.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
New research now shows that the distinctive musty scent of mummified remains holds valuable clues about how these elaborate burial rituals were carried out.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 16, 2026
The 43-year-old still appreciates the series—and for more than the thrill of learning how investigators identified a mummified pregnant woman hidden in a barrel on Long Island.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
Redacted videos of the couple’s mummified bodies captured on police bodycam recordings could be released if they are blurred, the court ruled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2025
The corpse was mummified by the cold, and this time the lawmen had no trouble identifying the victim: Henry Roan, a forty-year-old Osage Indian who was married with two children.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Rühli says he believes this could have inspired ancient Egyptians to start mummifying their honored dead.
From National Geographic ● Aug. 7, 2023
That's the question my Food52 colleagues asked when they saw me mummifying avocado halves in plastic wrap to prepare them for life eternal in the freezer.
From Salon ● May 15, 2021
From birds to crocodiles, lions and beetles, the ancient Egyptians had a penchant for mummifying animals.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 20, 2020
Forget a quick splodge of face paint or mummifying yourself in loo roll - celebrities always bring their costume A-game for Halloween.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2019
“We’re collecting materials for our Great Tomb Project. We’d like to keep our things here until we need them. We’re mummifying someone this week.”
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
