This week's theme
Words that have many unrelated meanings

This week's words
mensal
sconce
mortify
cloaca
confabulate

Make anagrams here

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(MOR-tuh-fy)

MEANING:

verb tr.:
1. To humiliate, shame, or embarrass.
2. To discipline (one's body) by self-denial, self-inflicted suffering, etc.

verb intr.:
1. To endure self-denial, self-inflicted pain, etc.
2. To become gangrened or necrosed.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin mortificare (to kill). Ultimately from the Indo-European root mer- (to rub away or to harm) that is also the source of morsel, premorse, mordant, morbid, mortal, mortgage, nightmare, amaranth, and ambrosia. Earliest documented use: 1382.

USAGE:

"Kate Bannan is mortified by her son's conviction for drink-driving."
Keith McLeod; Barry Bannan's Mum; Daily Record (Glasgow); Dec 23, 2011.

"You can only understand why he mortified himself and renounced all pleasures if you have lived a long time."
Fanny Howe; Outremer; Poetry (Chicago); Sep 2011.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: