mortal

[mawr-tl]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mortal ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

subject to death; having a transitory life: all mortal creatures.

of or relating to human beings as subject to death; human: this mortal life.

belonging to this world.

deadly or implacable; relentless: a mortal enemy.

severe, dire, grievous, or bitter: in mortal fear.

causing or liable to cause death; fatal: a mortal wound.

to the death: mortal combat.

of or relating to death: the mortal hour.

involving spiritual death (opposed to venial): mortal sin.

long and wearisome.

extreme; very great: in a mortal hurry.

conceivable; possible: of no mortal value to the owners.

noun

a human being.

the condition of being subject to death.

Origin of mortal

1325–75; Middle English < Latin mortālis, equivalent to mort- (stem of mors) death + -ālis -al¹

Related formsmor·tal·ly, adverbnon·mor·tal, adjective, nounnon·mor·tal·ly, adverbpost·mor·tal, adjectivepost·mor·tal·ly, adverbpre·mor·tal, adjectivepre·mor·tal·ly, adverbun·mor·tal, adjective

Synonyms for mortal

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mortal ON THESAURUS.COM

6. See fatal.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for mortal

grievous, dire, terrible, malignant, lethal, fatal, grim, temporal, earthly, frail, great, last, ending, terminal, killing, bitter, grave, extreme, perishable, passing

Examples from the Web for mortal

Contemporary Examples of mortal

While some of the patients had been seriously ill, many of them were not in mortal danger—at least not from their illnesses.
Why the Crisis in VA Hospitals Shames Our Country on Memorial Day
Jake Adelstein
May 26, 2014
The stakes didn't seem high enough—largely because America no longer views Russia as its mortal enemy.
Why ‘The Americans’ Is the Best Spy Show on TV
Andrew Romano
February 26, 2014
On the other far end of the spectrum, admittedly, is the idea that our first president might have unsprung the mortal coil.
Was George Washington Among the Walking Dead?
Kevin Bleyer
January 26, 2014
Yet each devoted his energies to matters of universal concern, and together they form a curious triptych on the mortal condition.
Three Great Men Died That Day: JFK, C.S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley
John Garth
November 3, 2013
But the Al-Shabab attackers were only able to kill the mortal part of him that he had in common with everybody.
Kofi Awoonor, the Ghanaian Poet Killed in Westgate Mall Attack
Michael Daly
September 24, 2013

Historical Examples of mortal

They were fabled as seven sisters, and one lost her place in the sky by marrying a mortal.
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
Yet he knew that he was not fatally injured if he could stop that mortal drain of his wounds.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
If it be drinkable by any manner of mortal, I must moisten my throat with it.
The New Adam and Eve (From "Mosses From An Old Manse")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
There's no good to mortal creature i' the bones or blood of her!
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
Alas, the vanity of mortal projects, even when they centre in the grave!
Other Tales and Sketches
Nathaniel Hawthorne

British Dictionary definitions for mortal

mortal

adjective

(of living beings, esp human beings) subject to death

of or involving life or the world

ending in or causing death; fatala mortal blow

deadly or unrelentinga mortal enemy

of or like the fear of death; diremortal terror

great or very intensemortal pain

possiblethere was no mortal reason to go

slang long and tediousfor three mortal hours

noun

a mortal being

informal a persona mean mortal

Derived Formsmortally, adverb

Word Origin for mortal

C14: from Latin mortālis, from mors death

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for mortal

adj.

mid-14c., "deadly," also "doomed to die," from Old French mortel "destined to die; deserving of death," from Latin mortalis "subject to death, mortal, of a mortal, human," from mors (genitive mortis) "death," from PIE base *mer- "to die," with derivatives referring to death and human beings" (cf. Sanskrit mrtih "death," martah "mortal man;" Avestan miryeite "dies," Old Persian martiya- "man;" Armenian meranim "die;" Latin mori "to die;" Lithuanian mirtis "mortal man;" Greek brotos "mortal" (hence ambrotos "immortal"); Old Church Slavonic mrutvu "dead;" Old Irish marb, Welsh marw "died;" Old English morþ "murder"). The most widespread Indo-European root for "to die," forming the common word for it except in Greek and Germanic. Watkins says it is "possibly" the same as PIE *mer- "rub, pound, wear away" (see morbid).

"mortal thing or substance," 1520s, from mortal (adj.). Latin mortalis also was used as a noun, "a man, mortal, human being."

mortal in Medicine

mortal

[môr′tl]

adj.

Liable or subject to death.

Causing death; fatal.