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mortal Definition

mor·tal (môrt′'l)

adjective

  1. that must eventually die all mortal beings
  2. of a human being considered as a being who must eventually die
  3. of this world
  4. of death
  5. causing death; deadly; fatal
  6. to the death mortal combat
  7. not to be pacified a mortal enemy
  8. very intense; grievous mortal terror
  9. Informal
    1. extreme; very great
    2. very long and tedious
    3. conceivable; possible of no mortal good to anyone
  10. Theol. causing spiritual death: said of a sin serious in itself, adequately recognized as such, and committed with full consent of one's will

Etymology: OFr < L mortalis < mors (gen. mortis), death, akin to mori, to die < IE base *mer-, to die, be worn out > murder, Sans marati, (he) dies

noun

a being who must eventually die; esp., a human being; person

adverb

Dialectal extremely

mortal Related Forms

mor′·tally adverb

mortal Synonyms

mortal

modif.

  1. Causing death

    malignant, fatal, lethal; see deadly, poisonous.

  2. Subject to death

    human, transient, temporal, passing, frail, impermanent, evanescent, fugacious, perishable, precarious, fading, passing away, ephemeral, momentary; see also temporary.

    Antonyms eternal*, perpetual*, everlasting. *

  3. *Very great

    extreme, deadly, last, ending; see grand 2. See syn. study at fatal.

mortal Synonyms

mortal

n.

creature, being, human; see animal 1, man 1.

mortal Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • marry: The Lord Chancellor suggests that the law should be changed to " every fairy must die that doesn't marry a mortal " .
  • lie: There in Plot number 340 lie the mortal remains of Michael Barrett.
  • become: He didn't just become mortal, He died.
  • help: Sir John saw his investment rapidly repaid many times over and he helped the talented young mortal expand his businesses.
  • make: It would be enough to make lesser mortals crawl back to the day job.

Adjective modifier

  • mere: For us mere mortals there is the team relays, these are staged over the sprint distance.
  • lesser: All season they have managed to compete with just 3 players with us lesser mortals playing up to help out.
  • ordinary: Many ordinary Catholic mortals don't have such an easy road.
  • poor: Luckily for us poor mortals it has been ported to Windows.
  • normal: Normal mortals can now skip to the end of these numbered paragraphs.
  • most: But even so, just one of Boris ' several jobs would be enough to keep most ordinary mortals busy and out of mischief.

Modifies a noun

  • coil: At least when you shuffle off your mortal coil, the coffin will only have two corners damaged.
  • peril: In their mortal peril the Greeks turned to us for succor.
  • sin: Now the infused virtue of love is lost through any mortal sin.
  • flesh: Then came the swish of swift sharp spears seeking the mortal flesh of adversaries.
  • danger: Putting the lives of your country's citizens in constant mortal danger?
  • enemy: Also, scanning many megabytes of data looking for the right bits is not a job I'd wish on my mortal enemy.

Modifying Another Word

not: The blow which had struck Michael Strogoff was not mortal.

Used with adjective complement

become: Once endowed with its less than perfect Body, the Creation, we might say, became mortal.

Preposition: with

immortality: For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.