Mortify
verb
To cause someone to feel embarrassed or ashamed.
His behavior at the party last night was so bad, it really mortified me.
Often appears as...
- mortify someone
- mortify myself
verb
In Christianity, to punish one's own body for spiritual improvement.
In the Middle Ages, some monks would mortify their bodies as a form of penance.
Often appears as...
- mortify the flesh
- self-mortification
Usage tips
Formal
Historical
verb
To cause someone to feel embarrassed or ashamed.
His behavior at the party last night was so bad, it really mortified me.
Often appears as...
- mortify someone
- mortify myself
verb
In Christianity, to punish one's own body for spiritual improvement.
In the Middle Ages, some monks would mortify their bodies as a form of penance.
Often appears as...
- mortify the flesh
- self-mortification
Usage tips
Formal
Historical
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Emotional Impact
Mortify suggests a deep sense of shame, often publicly witnessed.
He was mortified when he realized his microphone had been on the whole time.
Pro Tip 2/3Intensity
Mortify indicates a stronger feeling than just 'embarrassed' or 'awkward'.
She was mortified by her mistake during the performance, not just embarrassed.
Pro Tip 3/3Involvement
To mortify often involves others witnessing the event leading to humiliation.
His friends mortified him by recounting his blunders in front of his date.
Pro Tip 1/3Emotional Impact
Mortify suggests a deep sense of shame, often publicly witnessed.
He was mortified when he realized his microphone had been on the whole time.
Pro Tip 2/3Intensity
Mortify indicates a stronger feeling than just 'embarrassed' or 'awkward'.
She was mortified by her mistake during the performance, not just embarrassed.
Pro Tip 3/3Involvement
To mortify often involves others witnessing the event leading to humiliation.
His friends mortified him by recounting his blunders in front of his date.
Pro Tip 1/3Emotional Impact
Mortify suggests a deep sense of shame, often publicly witnessed.
He was mortified when he realized his microphone had been on the whole time.
Pro Tip 2/3Intensity
Mortify indicates a stronger feeling than just 'embarrassed' or 'awkward'.
She was mortified by her mistake during the performance, not just embarrassed.
Pro Tip 3/3Involvement
To mortify often involves others witnessing the event leading to humiliation.
His friends mortified him by recounting his blunders in front of his date.
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Video examples
Young-ha Kim: Be an...
so he dragged me out of the group. There were a lot of girls there as well, so I was utterly mortified. None of my explanations or excuses were heard, and I really got it big time. If he was an ideal teacher, he would have responded like I said before, "Young-ha may not have a talent for drawing,
Video examples
Glenn Greenwald: Why...
have things to hide. There are all sorts of things that we do and think that we're willing to tell our physician or our lawyer or our psychologist or our spouse or our best friend that we would be mortified for the rest of the world to learn. We make judgments every single day
Video examples
Jonathan Zittrain: The...
the poor teenager who filmed himself with a golf ball retriever, acting as if it were a light saber. The film, without his permission or even knowledge at first, found its way onto the Internet. Hugely viral video. Extremely popular. Totally mortifying to him.
Video examples
Jacqueline Novogratz:...
And I was so humiliated and mortified that I immediately ran home to my mother and chastised her for ever letting me wear the hideous sweater. We drove to the Goodwill and we threw the sweater away somewhat ceremoniously,
Video examples
Cheyenne Cochrane: A...
The room froze. Silence. Jenny and Rosie's mom was not too far away. She was in the kitchen and she overheard the conversation, and she was mortified. She said, "Rosie! You can't ask people questions like that."
Video examples
Aimee Mullins: Changing...
I came out of my leg. Like, I almost came out of it, in front of, like, 5,000 people. And I, I mean, was just mortified -- because I was signed up for the 200, you know, which went off in a half hour.
Video examples
The price of shame PIPE...
For the past eight months, the mysterious content of these tapes has hung like the sword of Damocles over my head. I mean, who can remember what they said a year ago? Scared and mortified, I listen,
Video examples
The most notorious...
When Cope's mentor sided with Marsh, Cope was mortified. He tried to buy and destroy every copy of the article containing his blunder, but to no avail. Their mutual resentment blossomed.
Video examples
Roxane Gay: Confessions...
Think about it. Poetry, right? I am utterly mortified by my music choices. I firmly believe in man work, which is anything I don't want to do, including --
Video examples
Why design should...
I apologize profusely and I ask them to stand guard outside my cubicle door. They do and I emerge grateful but absolutely mortified,
Video examples
Young-ha Kim: Be an...
so he dragged me out of the group. There were a lot of girls there as well, so I was utterly mortified. None of my explanations or excuses were heard, and I really got it big time. If he was an ideal teacher, he would have responded like I said before, "Young-ha may not have a talent for drawing,
Video examples
Glenn Greenwald: Why...
have things to hide. There are all sorts of things that we do and think that we're willing to tell our physician or our lawyer or our psychologist or our spouse or our best friend that we would be mortified for the rest of the world to learn. We make judgments every single day
Video examples
Jonathan Zittrain: The...
the poor teenager who filmed himself with a golf ball retriever, acting as if it were a light saber. The film, without his permission or even knowledge at first, found its way onto the Internet. Hugely viral video. Extremely popular. Totally mortifying to him.
Video examples
Jacqueline Novogratz:...
And I was so humiliated and mortified that I immediately ran home to my mother and chastised her for ever letting me wear the hideous sweater. We drove to the Goodwill and we threw the sweater away somewhat ceremoniously,
Video examples
Cheyenne Cochrane: A...
The room froze. Silence. Jenny and Rosie's mom was not too far away. She was in the kitchen and she overheard the conversation, and she was mortified. She said, "Rosie! You can't ask people questions like that."
Video examples
Aimee Mullins: Changing...
I came out of my leg. Like, I almost came out of it, in front of, like, 5,000 people. And I, I mean, was just mortified -- because I was signed up for the 200, you know, which went off in a half hour.
Video examples
The price of shame PIPE...
For the past eight months, the mysterious content of these tapes has hung like the sword of Damocles over my head. I mean, who can remember what they said a year ago? Scared and mortified, I listen,
Video examples
The most notorious...
When Cope's mentor sided with Marsh, Cope was mortified. He tried to buy and destroy every copy of the article containing his blunder, but to no avail. Their mutual resentment blossomed.
Video examples
Roxane Gay: Confessions...
Think about it. Poetry, right? I am utterly mortified by my music choices. I firmly believe in man work, which is anything I don't want to do, including --
Video examples
Why design should...
I apologize profusely and I ask them to stand guard outside my cubicle door. They do and I emerge grateful but absolutely mortified,
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Kate Garraway
English Journalist
Once, when I was about eight, my mum handed me a sandwich, and I remarked: 'What are those weird things on your hands?' I was referring to the visible pores, which were such a contrast to my own alabaster-smooth skin. My mum looked mortified, while my grandma laughed and said: 'They're nothing - look at mine!
Quote examples
Jacob Batalon
Filipino Actor
Growing up, I wanted to be a musician. My mother, in typical Filipino-mom fashion, would always make me go up in front of people at parties to sing. Back then, as a kid, I was mortified. In retrospect, I see that doing that as a child helped me get over my fear of being in front of people.
Quote examples
John Waters
Director
I grew up in Baltimore, which is, you know, a city of extremes certainly, but my parents were very conservative. But they made me feel safe, and even though they were mortified at what I was doing, they encouraged it. I think because they thought, what else could I do?
Quote examples
Michaela Watkins
American Actress
My rule of thumb is to always do what's on the page first. Then you can talk to your director about playing with it. Improv frees me up in a character, but I would be mortified if the writers who agonized over their words assumed I thought my improv was more valuable.
Quote examples
Amy Hill
American Comedian
I was mortified by my parents - what they did, who they were, everything. I hated who I was. I hated everything, and I would live in a fantasy world and try to be different. But that's not a lot different, I think, than a lot of kids.
Quote examples
Thomas Jefferson
American President
I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.
Quote examples
Sami Gayle
American Actress
I have never gotten a B in my life. I would honestly be mortified if I got a B. I'm so academically driven.
Quote examples
Logan Pearsall Smith
American Writer
What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?
Quote examples
Billy Bob Thornton
American Actor
I've danced one time in my life. It was the most mortifying experience I ever had.
Quote examples
Robert Louis Stevenson
Scottish Writer
It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it.
Quote examples
Kate Garraway
English Journalist
Once, when I was about eight, my mum handed me a sandwich, and I remarked: 'What are those weird things on your hands?' I was referring to the visible pores, which were such a contrast to my own alabaster-smooth skin. My mum looked mortified, while my grandma laughed and said: 'They're nothing - look at mine!
Quote examples
Jacob Batalon
Filipino Actor
Growing up, I wanted to be a musician. My mother, in typical Filipino-mom fashion, would always make me go up in front of people at parties to sing. Back then, as a kid, I was mortified. In retrospect, I see that doing that as a child helped me get over my fear of being in front of people.
Quote examples
John Waters
Director
I grew up in Baltimore, which is, you know, a city of extremes certainly, but my parents were very conservative. But they made me feel safe, and even though they were mortified at what I was doing, they encouraged it. I think because they thought, what else could I do?
Quote examples
Michaela Watkins
American Actress
My rule of thumb is to always do what's on the page first. Then you can talk to your director about playing with it. Improv frees me up in a character, but I would be mortified if the writers who agonized over their words assumed I thought my improv was more valuable.
Quote examples
Amy Hill
American Comedian
I was mortified by my parents - what they did, who they were, everything. I hated who I was. I hated everything, and I would live in a fantasy world and try to be different. But that's not a lot different, I think, than a lot of kids.
Quote examples
Thomas Jefferson
American President
I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.
Quote examples
Sami Gayle
American Actress
I have never gotten a B in my life. I would honestly be mortified if I got a B. I'm so academically driven.
Quote examples
Logan Pearsall Smith
American Writer
What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?
Quote examples
Billy Bob Thornton
American Actor
I've danced one time in my life. It was the most mortifying experience I ever had.
Quote examples
Robert Louis Stevenson
Scottish Writer
It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it.
Example 1 of 10
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