mortification

What it means

1. countableuncountableThe act of mortifying.
2. countableuncountableA sensation of extreme shame or embarrassment.

   Near-synonym: humiliation

   3 more examples

   Certainly a little mortification appears very becoming in a wife—don't you think it will do her good to let her Pine a little.

   1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, V.ii

   He felt stunned—mortification, sorrow, and anger, mingled together: the past was like a dream, and the future swam indistinctly before him.

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Consent”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 152

   The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   Synonyms: humiliation · Antonyms: honor, exaltation

3. countableuncountablemedicineThe death of part of the body.

   And then there's the fever and the mortification—if it took bad ways he'd quickly be gone.

   1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 5”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC

In a sentence

Near-synonym: humiliation

Where it comes from

1. Latinmortificātiō
2. Middle Frenchmortification
3. Middle Englishmortificacioun, mortification
4. Englishmortification

From Middle English mortificacioun, mortification, from Middle French mortification and its etymon Latin mortificātiō. By surface analysis, mortify + -ication.