MORTIFICATION • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Mortification

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noun

Mortification n.

The act of mortifying, or the condition of being mortified; especially:

(a)

(Med.) The death of one part of an animal body, while the rest continues to live; loss of vitality in some part of a living animal; gangrene.

(b)

(Alchem. & Old Chem.) Destruction of active qualities; neutralization. (Obs.)

(c)

Subjection of the passions and appetites, by penance, abstinence, or painful severities inflicted on the body. "The mortification of our lusts has something in it that is troublesome, yet nothing that is unreasonable."

Deep humiliation or shame, from a loss of pride; painful embarassment, usually arising from exposure of a mistake; chagrin; vexation.

That which mortifies; the cause of humiliation, chagrin, or vexation. "It is one of the vexatious mortifications of a studious man to have his thoughts discovered by a tedious visit."

(Scots Law) A gift to some charitable or religious institution; nearly synonymous with mortmain.

Synonyms: Chagrin; vexation; shame. See Chagrin.

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Etymology of 'Mortification'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Mortification" Quotes from Famous Books

... from her abortive grapplings both with the abstract problems of her soul and the concrete mischiefs of her female friends. The influence of IBSEN and a militant Suffragette didn't help her meditations, and when her husband died she had the mortification to find that the first man of her own age who professed love to her was no man but a series of artistic poses. Of her difficulties, real enough up to this point, the solution was the fraudulent Henry, fraudulent because he was just a stage ...

— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, January 7, 1914 • Various

... engaged in preparing a bill for the mortification of papists, to be called the "Convent Custody Bill," the purport of which was to enable any Protestant clergyman over fifty years of age to search any nun whom he suspected of being in possession of treasonable papers or Jesuitical symbols; ...

— The Warden • Anthony Trollope

... knows!" the girl thought. "What must he think of me! Oh, dear, oh, dear! if he mentions the subject to me I shall die." Tears of mortification were in her eyes as she turned angrily upon the amazed Pablo. "You—you—old sky-blue idiot!" she charged ...

— The Pride of Palomar • Peter B. Kyne

... (Vira or Mahavira). He married Yas'oda and had a daughter by her. In his thirtieth year his parents died and with the permission of his brother Nandivardhana he became a monk. After twelve years of self-mortification and meditation he attained omniscience (kevala, cf. bodhi of the Buddhists). He lived to preach for forty-two years more, and attained mok@sa (emancipation) some years before Buddha in about ...

— A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1 • Surendranath Dasgupta

... with mortification and astonishment. "Do the white persons pay such respect to niggers in Savannah? I sha'n't do it." So ...

— Southern Literature From 1579-1895 • Louise Manly

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