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(tr) to preserve (an outdated idea, institution, etc) while making lifeless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
-
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:
A type of moss often found in bogs also helps mummify bodies, Mulhall adds.
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
These injuries suggest that Dakota’s carcass remained unburied and vulnerable to scavenging for some time after the dinosaur’s death—but if the dino wasn’t rapidly buried, how did it 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
I remember the Scotch tape ads from the forties: mummify your hand in inside- out Scotch tape, defuzz your clothing.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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
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
He was mummified and buried in Luxor's Valley of the Kings inside three nested coffins, the smallest weighing 110kg, all placed within four gilded shrines like matryoshka dolls.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2025
The body is then mummified due to a lack of moisture and oxygen in the glacier.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2025
In the depression caused by the sagging of the floor, pieces of animals manifested themselves, the head of a crow, mummified hands which might have once been parts of monkeys.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
Rühli says he believes this could have inspired ancient Egyptians to start mummifying their honored dead.
From National Geographic ● Aug. 7, 2023
As for the legacy or genealogy side of things, there are chasmic unknowns to mummifying yourself in the digital world.
From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2022
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
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
Sometime before 5000 b.c. they began mummifying bodies—children at first, adults later on.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
