mortification.

1. Intense embarrassment or humiliation.

2. Self-denial or bodily discipline practiced for spiritual purposes.

3. The death of bodily tissue, especially in older medical usage.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• deep mortification
• public mortification

On the page

To her mortification, the microphone remained on.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror / gothic. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: atmosphere, description. Commonness: uncommon.