mortify
verb /ˈmɔːtɪfaɪ/
/ˈmɔːrtɪfaɪ/
[usually passive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they mortify | /ˈmɔːtɪfaɪ/ /ˈmɔːrtɪfaɪ/ |
| he / she / it mortifies | /ˈmɔːtɪfaɪz/ /ˈmɔːrtɪfaɪz/ |
| past simple mortified | /ˈmɔːtɪfaɪd/ /ˈmɔːrtɪfaɪd/ |
| past participle mortified | /ˈmɔːtɪfaɪd/ /ˈmɔːrtɪfaɪd/ |
| -ing form mortifying | /ˈmɔːtɪfaɪɪŋ/ /ˈmɔːrtɪfaɪɪŋ/ |
- to make somebody feel very ashamed or embarrassed synonym humiliate
- be mortified I was mortified when I realized I had forgotten our lunch date.
- be mortified to do something She was mortified to realize he had heard every word she said.
Word Originlate Middle English (in the senses ‘put to death’, ‘deaden’, and ‘subdue by self-denial’): from Old French mortifier, from ecclesiastical Latin mortificare ‘kill, subdue’, from mors, mort- ‘death’.