self-mortification

[ self-mawr-tuh-fi-key-shuhn ]

/ ˈsɛlfˌmɔr tə fɪˈkeɪ ʃən /

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noun

the inflicting of pain or privation on oneself: He was certain that self-mortification was the only road to salvation.

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Origin of self-mortification

First recorded in 1815–25

self-mor·ti·fied

[self-mawr-tuh-fahyd, self-], /ˌsɛlfˈmɔr təˌfaɪd, ˈsɛlf-/, adjective

We see detoxing as a path to transcendence, a symbol of modern urban virtue and self-transformation through abstinence.
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For someone with anorexia, self-starvation makes them feel better.
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I went into the audition as Fericito, the Venezuelan percussionist, and then I did a self-defense expert.
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Those who come to the Dinner Party are self-selecting; they do want to talk about it.
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Let the thought of self pass in, and the beauty of great action is gone, like the bloom from a soiled flower.
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Now this setting up of an orderly law-abiding self seems to me to imply that there are impulses which make for order.
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At present, Louis was too self-absorbed by the struggles within him, to look deep into what was passing around him.
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But to wave this discourse of Heathens, how many self-contradicting principles are there held among Christians?
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Jean grinned and dribbled self-consciously, and showed his two little teeth to the proudest father in the world.
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