Definition

1. Verb (transitive):

   • To cause to feel shame, humiliation, or wounded pride: To inflict a deep sense of embarrassment or disgrace upon someone.
   • To subdue or discipline (especially bodily desires) by self-denial or ascetic practices: To bring under control through abstinence or severe treatment.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • (Medical/Pathology) To undergo necrosis; to become gangrenous: To die and decay, referring to body tissue.

Usage Examples

• Verb (transitive - to cause shame):

  • His public reprimand mortified her. (His public reprimand caused her to feel deep shame.)
  • It mortifies me to think of my mistake. (It causes me great shame to think of my mistake.)

• Verb (transitive - to subdue desires):

  • The monk sought to mortify the flesh through fasting. (The monk sought to subdue bodily desires through fasting.)
  • She mortified her vanity by wearing simple clothes. (She subdued her vanity by wearing simple clothes.)

• Verb (intransitive - medical):

  • Without blood flow, the tissue began to mortify. (Without blood flow, the tissue began to die and decay.)

Advanced Usage

• "to be mortified": A common passive construction expressing a state of acute embarrassment or shame.
  • She was mortified when she realized her error.
• "mortifying" (adjective): Describing something that causes intense shame or humiliation.
  • It was a mortifying experience for everyone involved.

Variants and Related Words

• Mortification (noun): The feeling of shame, humiliation, or the process of subduing desires.
  • His face was red with mortification.
• Mortified (adjective): Deeply ashamed or embarrassed.
  • He looked absolutely mortified.
• Mortifyingly (adverb): In a manner that causes mortification.
  • The plan failed mortifyingly quickly.

Synonyms

• Humiliate: To make someone feel ashamed and foolish by injuring their dignity and pride.
• Chasten: To subdue or restrain; to correct by punishment or suffering.
• Necrose (for the medical sense): To undergo necrosis.

Related Phrasal Verbs/Constructions

(This word does not commonly form standard phrasal verbs. Its meanings are expressed through direct usage.)

Related Idioms

• "Mortify the flesh": An idiom referring to the practice of asceticism, using physical discipline or deprivation to subdue bodily passions and desires.
  • Some religious traditions encourage followers to mortify the flesh.

Verb

1. undergo necrosis
   • the tissue around the wound necrosed
2. cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of
   • He humiliated his colleague by criticising him in front of the boss
3. hold within limits and control
   • subdue one's appetites
   • mortify the flesh
4. practice self-denial of one's body and appetites