Mortify

Quick meaning: Mortify is a verb meaning (transitive) To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires; to practise abstinence on.

Meaning

(transitive) To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires; to practise abstinence on.

More Meanings

1. (transitive, usually used passively) To injure the dignity of; to embarrass; to humiliate.
2. (transitive) To affect with vexation or chagrin.
3. (transitive) To scare.
4. (transitive, Scots law, historical) To grant in mortmain.
5. (obsolete, transitive) To kill.
6. (obsolete, transitive) To reduce the potency of; to nullify; to deaden, neutralize.
7. (obsolete, transitive) To humble; to depress.

Example Sentences

Mortify thy learned lust.

With fasting mortify'd, worn out with tears.

Some people seek sainthood by mortifying the body.

Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth.

Word Forms

• mortifies
• mortifying
• mortified

Synonyms for mortify

Depending on context, synonyms include macerate, demean, humiliate, shame, terminate, annihilate.

Antonyms for mortify

Common opposites include dignify, honor.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include humble, abase, humiliate, subdue, chagrin, sphacelate.

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