Mortification is a feeling of extreme embarrassment or shame. It can also mean the act of deliberately denying yourself pleasures for religious or moral reasons, though this use is rarer today.
From Late Latin *mortificatio*, meaning “a killing” or “putting to death,” from *mortificare* “to cause death, to subdue,” based on *mort-* “death.” The word shifted from the idea of killing physical desires to the strong emotional pain of shame and embarrassment.
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