self-mortification
- noun
- /ˈsɛlfˌmɔrtɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
- NSFW
- As a form of self-mortification, what I'm up to can seem both high-minded and foolish.
Examples
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Many monastic communities practice self-mortification to develop self-discipline and strengthen their faith.
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Times of prayer and self-mortification are not essential for the practice.
Blog text (29) -
Through the years, according to tradition, individual Fox men had, by fasting and other self-mortification, caused supernatural forces to "pity" them and thereby give them special gifts or "blessings," each of which established some slightly new relationship with some part of the natural order....
Academic text (1995) -
And being thin and weak from spiritual fasting and self-mortification for your carbon sins, you are unable to crawl out and peer feebly at the real world through red, blinking, tear-filled eyes.
Blog text (1) -
The ritual of self-mortification can vary widely between different religions, but it often involves fasting or other forms of denial.
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In some cultures, self-mortification is viewed as a path to spiritual awakening and is practiced during specific religious ceremonies.
Synonyms
A feeling of deep regret and an action to show you are sorry
To punish yourself by hitting your body with a whip, often for religious reasons
Giving up comfort and causing pain for religious reasons
Making yourself suffer because you feel guilty
Act of making yourself feel ashamed to show you are sorry
Causing yourself pain by thinking a lot about bad things
To make yourself feel sad or guilty on purpose by replaying past events
Antonyms
How Severe
Surface Forms
Morphology
self-mortification = mortification (transparent) = self + mortification
The meaning is a straightforward combination of 'self-' (oneself) + 'mortification' (the practice of subduing bodily desires or causing suffering), so the compound literally denotes inflicting suffering on oneself.
Etymology
Self-mortification breaks into self- meaning 'your own' and the root mort meaning 'death', which you can see in the familiar word immortal. A helpful way to remember it is that it originally meant 'to make dead', so self-mortification is about trying to 'kill' or control parts of yourself by causing pain or denying comforts, often for religious reasons or to show regret.