mortify
mortify Lexical Profile
mortify Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To cause someone to feel extreme embarrassment, shame, or humiliation.
"The thought of forgetting his lines in front of the entire auditorium was enough to mortify the young actor."
To subdue or discipline one's bodily desires, appetites, or passions through self-denial or asceticism.
"During the medieval period, many monks sought to mortify the flesh through fasting and long vigils."
To undergo necrosis or become gangrenous (of living body tissue).
"Without proper blood circulation and antibiotic treatment, the injured tissue began to mortify."
Word Nuance & Usage
Because the root 'mort' means death, learners sometimes mistakenly assume 'mortify' means to terrify or frighten someone; in modern usage, it strictly means to cause intense embarrassment or humiliation.
• Rhymes for mortify
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Old French 'mortifier', from Late Latin 'mortificare' ('to cause death, to subdue the flesh'), combining Latin 'mors' ('death') and '-ficare' ('to make').