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Mortified vs Dreadful - What's the difference?

mortified | dreadful |

As a verb mortified

is (mortify).

As an adjective dreadful is

causing dread; very bad.

As a noun dreadful is

a shocking or sensational crime.

mortified

English

Verb

(head)
  • (mortify)

  • mortify

    English

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • (obsolete) To kill.
  • (obsolete) To reduce the potency of; to nullify; to deaden, neutralize.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Quicksilver is mortified with turpentine.
  • * Hakewill
  • He mortified pearls in vinegar.
  • (obsolete) To kill off (living tissue etc.); to make necrotic.
  • *, II.3:
  • *:Servius the Grammarian being troubled with the gowt, found no better meanes to be rid of it, than to apply poison to mortifie his legs.
  • To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires; to practise abstinence on.
  • Some people seek sainthood by mortifying the body.
  • * Harte
  • With fasting mortified , worn out with tears.
  • * Prior
  • Mortify thy learned lust.
  • * Bible, Col. iii. 5
  • Mortify , therefore, your members which are upon the earth.
  • (usually, used passively) To embarrass, to humiliate.
  • I was so mortified I could have died right there, instead I fainted, but I swore I'd never let that happen to me again.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.}}
  • (obsolete) To affect with vexation, chagrin, or humiliation; to humble; to depress.
  • * Evelyn
  • the news of the fatal battle of Worcester, which exceedingly mortified our expectations
  • * Addison
  • How often is the ambitious man mortified with the very praises he receives, if they do not rise so high as he thinks they ought!
  • (Scotland, legal, historical) To grant in mortmain
  • * 1876 James Grant, History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland , Part II, Chapter 14, p.453 ( PDF 2.7 MB):
  • the schoolmasters of Ayr were paid out of the mills mortified by Queen Mary

    dreadful

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (archaic) * (l) (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Causing dread; very bad.
  • * 1900 , , (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) Chapter 23
  • "My greatest wish now," she added, "is to get back to Kansas, for Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning; and unless the crops are better this year than they were last, I am sure Uncle Henry cannot afford it."
  • *, chapter=17
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 10, author=Marc Higginson, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Bolton 1-2 Aston Villa , passage=After a dreadful performance in the opening 45 minutes, they upped their game after the break and might have taken at least a point from the match.}}

    Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "dreadful" is often applied: day, night, state, news, time, secret, storm, mistake, accident, story, dream, havoc, truth, loss, act, life, thought, creature, curse, suffering.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A shocking or sensational crime.
  • A shocking or sensational report of a crime.
  • Derived terms

    * penny dreadful

    References

    * (EtymOnLine)