mortify
verb
Jane Austen
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The Deadly History of Mortify
Mortify once actually meant "put to death", but no longer. Its "deaden" sense is most familiar to us in the phrase "mortifying the flesh", which refers to a custom once followed by devout Christians, who would starve themselves, deprive themselves of every comfort, and even whip themselves in order to subdue their bodily desires and punish themselves for their sins. But the most common use of mortify today is the "humiliate" sense; its connection with death is still apparent when we speak of "dying of embarrassment".
Synonyms
Examples of mortify in a Sentence
Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker, 17 June 2024
Daniela is mortified, demanding to be taken home immediately.
—Chris Klimek, Vulture, 5 June 2024
She was mortified and apologized profusely—and hopefully doesn’t make that mistake again in the future.
—Paul J. Heney, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 June 2023
Predictably, China suffered a mortifying loss in the First Sino-Japanese War, setting the stage for the downfall of the Qing dynasty and kicking off a long period of political upheaval.
—Cai Xia, Foreign Affairs, 6 Sep. 2022
See all Example Sentences for mortify 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mortify.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near mortify
Cite this Entry
“Mortify.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mortify. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
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mortify
verb
Medical Definition
mortify
intransitive verb
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