mortification

English

Etymology

From Middle French mortification, from Old French, from Latin mortificatio.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌmɔːtɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌmoɹtɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/; (weak vowel merger) /-tə-/, /-fə-/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

mortification (countable and uncountable, plural mortifications)

1. The act of mortifying.
2. A sensation of extreme shame or embarrassment.
   • 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, V.ii:

     Certainly a little mortification appears very becoming in a wife—don't you think it will do her good to let her Pine a little.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Consent”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 152:

     He felt stunned—mortification, sorrow, and anger, mingled together: the past was like a dream, and the future swam indistinctly before him.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.

3. (medicine) The death of part of the body.
   • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 5”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

     And then there's the fever and the mortification—if it took bad ways he'd quickly be gone.

4. A bringing under of the passions and appetites by a severe or strict manner of living.
5. (law, Scotland) A bequest to a charitable institution.

Synonyms

• (a sensation of extreme shame): shame, humiliation

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “a sensation of extreme shame”): honor, exaltation

Derived terms

• mortification root

Translations

act of mortifying

Tocharian B: pälśalñe

a sensation of extreme shame

Bulgarian: унижение (bg) n (uniženie) Greek: ταπείνωση (el) f (tapeínosi), προσβολή (el) f (prosvolí) Japanese: 屈辱 (ja) (kutsujoku)

death of a body part

Bulgarian: умъртвяване n (umǎrtvjavane), гангрена (bg) f (gangrena) Czech: odumírání n, ponížení n Greek: νέκρωση (el) f (nékrosi), γάγγραινα (el) f (gángraina) Japanese: 壊死 (ja) (eshi) Russian: омертве́ние (тка́ни) n (omertvénije (tkáni))

French

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Agen)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

mortification f (plural mortifications)

1. mortification

Further reading

• “mortification”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.