Meaning

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

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires; to practise abstinence on.
2. (transitive, usually used passively) To injure the dignity of; to embarrass; to humiliate.
3. (obsolete, transitive) To kill.
4. (obsolete, transitive) To reduce the potency of; to nullify; to deaden, neutralize.
5. (transitive) To affect with vexation or chagrin.
6. (transitive) To scare.
7. (obsolete, transitive) To humble; to depress.
8. (transitive, Scots law, historical) To grant in mortmain.

Example Sentences

Some people seek sainthood by mortifying the body.

With fasting mortify'd, worn out with tears.

Mortify thy learned lust.

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

I was so mortified I could have died right there; instead I fainted, but I swore I'd never let that happen to me again.

Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.

The second Spring after transplanting, purge them of all superfluous shoots and scions, reserving only the most towardly for the future stem; this to be done yearly, as long as they continue in the nursery; and if of the principal stem so left, the frost mortifie any part, cut it off [...]

Soothly, the gode werkes, that he dide biforn that he fil in sinne, been al mortified and astoned and dulled by the ofte sinning.

Word Forms

• mortifies
• mortifying
• mortified

Synonyms for mortify

Antonyms for mortify

Related Words

When Should You Use Mortify?

Use mortify when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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