mortify
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
-
to practice mortification or disciplinary austerities.
-
Pathology. to undergo mortification; become gangrened or necrosed.
verb
-
(tr) to humiliate or cause to feel shame
-
(tr) Christianity to subdue and bring under control by self-denial, disciplinary exercises, etc
-
(intr) to undergo tissue death or become gangrenous
Usage
What does mortify mean? Mortify means to humiliate or embarrass in an extreme way.You know when you do something so unbearably embarrassing that you just want to shrivel up and die? That’s what it’s like to feel mortified. Which is fitting because the word comes from a root meaning “death.”Things that are humiliating or extremely embarrassing can be described as mortifying. This feeling of humiliation or extreme embarrassment can be called mortification.Mortify can also be used in a way that relates to literal death. In medical terms, to mortify is to undergo mortification—the death of one part of the body while the rest of the body is alive. This is more technically called gangrene or necrosis.Mortify is also used (less commonly) in a religious context, in which it means to practice ascetic self-discipline with the goal of strengthening one’s will and overcoming the desire to sin. In Christianity, forms of mortification include things like fasting. In some extreme cases, especially in older times, it has included things like self-flagellation—whipping oneself.Example: Even when I do my best not to embarrass my kids, I still end up mortifying them on most occasions.
Related Words
See ashamed.
Other Word Forms
- mortifier noun
- mortifying adjective
- mortifyingly adverb
- premortify verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of mortify
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English mortifien, from Middle French mortifier, from Late Latin mortificāre “to put to death,” equivalent to Latin morti- (stem of mors ) “death” + -ficāre -fy
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.
In a sequence that would mortify anyone averse to audience participation, he gently beseeches a handful of patrons to stand with their hands up and foreheads against the wall, like a row of perpetrators.
From New York Times • Feb. 12, 2024
That it seems a choice at all is what should mortify us.
From Salon • Feb. 9, 2024
A few years after I sent the quarterback the audio recording, a friend who lived in his dorm told me that he’d played it aloud for his buddies in an effort to mortify me.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 4, 2024
“Don’t take advantage of your own position and role to mortify the other.”
From Seattle Times • Dec. 22, 2022
I wonder what he needs to hide, because there is enough here in his living room that should mortify him.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
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.
