mortified
mortified Lexical Profile
mortified Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Feeling or showing extreme embarrassment, shame, or humiliation.
"She was completely mortified when she realized she had been speaking with her microphone unmuted."
Affected by gangrene or necrosis (of living tissue or flesh).
"The 19th-century surgeon had to remove the mortified tissue to prevent the infection from spreading."
• verb
To cause someone to feel extreme embarrassment, shame, or humiliation (past tense and past participle of mortify).
"Forgetting the guest of honor's name during the toast mortified the host."
To subdue or discipline bodily desires and passions through self-denial or asceticism (past tense and past participle of mortify).
"The medieval monks mortified the flesh through fasting and long vigils."
Word Nuance & Usage
'Mortified' means extremely embarrassed or humiliated, not terrified or frightened, with which it is sometimes confused due to its sound similarity to 'petrified' and its Latin root meaning 'death'.
• Rhymes for mortified
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from the verb 'mortify', from Old French 'mortifier' and Late Latin 'mortificare' ('to cause death' or 'subdue'), combining Latin 'mors' ('death') and 'facere' ('to make').