Standard Lemma guide

mortify

verb · 16 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈmɔːtɪfaɪ/
  • General-American: /ˈmoɹtɪfaɪ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M AO1 R T IH0 F AY2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • Some people seek sainthood by mortifying the body.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: macerate

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To injure the dignity of; to embarrass; to humiliate.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive, usually

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: demean, humiliate, shame

Antonyms: dignify, honor

3

verb

Meaning 3

To kill.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dispose of, terminate, annihilate, bag, baptize, bereave of life, blight, bring down, bump off, bury, cack, compromised to a permanent end, croak, crush, dash, deactivate, dead, demolish, destroy, dispatch, do, do in, dust, eliminate, end, eradicate, ex, exterminate, finish, finish off, flatten, grease, knock off, lay waste to, make away with, merc, mortify, neutralize, obliterate, off, pay off, pick off, polish off, pop off, punch someone's ticket, put an end to, put down, put someone out of their misery, put six feet under, put to sleep, ravage, rub out, ruin, scotch, scupper, scuttle, send to eternity, send to hell, send to the grave, send to the great beyond, send to the next life, shut up, slay, slaughter, slime out, smash, smite, snuff, squash, stiff, stop someone's clock, take, terminate with extreme prejudice, top off, top, torpedo, take care of, take down, take out, waste, wax, wet, whack, wipe out, wreck

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To reduce the potency of; to nullify; to deaden, neutralize.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: abate, cancel out, diminish, weaken

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To affect with vexation or chagrin.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • He seemed to enjoy mortifying them with news of every fresh hell loosed in the capital.
  • 22 September 1651 (date in diary), 1818 (first published), John Evelyn, John Evelyn's Diary the news of the fatal battle of Worcester, which exceedingly mortified our expectations

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: disturb, perturb, agitate, freak, sting, bother, bring down, discompose, disconcert, enturbulate, mortify, put out, ruffle, throw off balance, unsettle, upset, flurry

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

To scare.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • Near-synonym: petrify
  • Please don't mortify your mother by telling her what a stupidly dangerous thing you did last night.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: frighten, alarm, affright, appall, dismay, fray, grill, give someone the shits, harrow, horrify, make someone's blood run cold, mortify, petrify, scare, scare straight, scare the bejeebers out of, scare the hell out of, scare the pants off of, scare the shit out of, terrorize, terrify, spook

Antonyms: none provided

7

verb

Meaning 7

To humble; to depress.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

verb

Meaning 8

To grant in mortmain.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: historical, transitive

Qualifier: Scots law

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

verb

Meaning 9

To lose vitality.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: darken, die, fade, wither

Antonyms: none provided

10

verb

Meaning 10

To kill off (living tissue etc.); to make necrotic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: fester, necrotize, rankle, rot, sphacelate, decay

Antonyms: none provided

11

verb

Meaning 11

To gangrene.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: fester, putrefy

Antonyms: none provided

12

verb

Meaning 12

To be subdued.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: abate, diminish, quell, subside, wane

Antonyms: none provided

13

verb

Meaning 13

undergo necrosis

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the tissue around the wound necrosed

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: necrose, gangrene, sphacelate

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: waste, rot

14

verb

Meaning 14

cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • He humiliated his colleague by criticising him in front of the boss

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: humiliate, chagrin, humble, abase

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hurt, wound, injure, bruise, offend, spite

Narrower terms: crush, smash, demolish, take down, degrade, disgrace, demean, put down

15

verb

Meaning 15

hold within limits and control

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • subdue one's appetites
  • mortify the flesh

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: subdue, crucify

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: control, hold in, hold, contain, check, curb, moderate

Narrower terms: mortify

16

verb

Meaning 16

practice self-denial of one's body and appetites

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mortify, subdue, crucify, discipline, train, check, condition

History

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman mortifier, Middle French mortifier, from Late Latin mortificō (“cause death”), from Latin mors (“death”) + -ficō (“-fy”).

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: потъпквам (potǎpkvam) — to discipline by suppressing desires
  • Bulgarian: потушавам (potušavam) — to discipline by suppressing desires
  • Dutch: onderdrukken — to discipline by suppressing desires
  • Finnish: kuolettaa — to discipline by suppressing desires
  • French: mortifier — to discipline by suppressing desires
  • French: macérer — to discipline by suppressing desires
  • German: abtöten — to discipline by suppressing desires
  • Japanese: 苦行する (kugyō suru) — to discipline by suppressing desires
  • Latin: mācerō — to discipline by suppressing desires
  • Spanish: mortificar — to discipline by suppressing desires
  • Swedish: späka — to discipline by suppressing desires
  • Bulgarian: унижавам (unižavam) — to injure one's dignity
  • Czech: ponížit — to injure one's dignity
  • Czech: zostudit — to injure one's dignity
  • Czech: zahanbit — to injure one's dignity
  • Czech: potupit — to injure one's dignity
  • Japanese: 屈辱を与える (kutsujoku wo ataeru) — to injure one's dignity
  • Japanese: 辱める (hazukashimeru) — to injure one's dignity
  • Spanish: mortificar — to injure one's dignity
  • Bulgarian: умъртвявам (umǎrtvjavam) — to kill
  • French: tuer — to kill
  • German: töten — to kill
  • German: abtöten — to kill
  • Japanese: 殺す (korosu) — to kill
  • Spanish: matar — to kill