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Mortify vs Abash - What's the difference?

mortify | abash |

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between mortify and abash

is that mortify is (obsolete) to affect with vexation, chagrin, or humiliation; to humble; to depress while abash is (obsolete) to lose self-possession; to become ashamed .

As verbs the difference between mortify and abash

is that mortify is (obsolete|transitive) to kill while abash is to make ashamed; to embarrass; to destroy the self-possession of, as by exciting suddenly a consciousness of guilt, mistake, or inferiority; to disconcert; to discomfit .

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

    Related terms

    * (l)

    abash

    English

    Verb

    (es)
  • To make ashamed; to embarrass; to destroy the self-possession of, as by exciting suddenly a consciousness of guilt, mistake, or inferiority; to disconcert; to discomfit.
    • "He was a man whom no check could abash ." – .
  • (obsolete) To lose self-possession; to become ashamed.

    • Usage notes

    * Of abash, confuse, confound: Abash' is a stronger word than '''confuse''', but not so strong as ' confound . ** We are abashed'' when struck either with sudden shame or with a humbling sense of inferiority; as, Peter was ''abashed'' by the look of his Master. So a modest youth is ''abashed in the presence of those who are greatly his superiors. ** We are confused'' when, from some unexpected or startling occurrence, we lose clearness of thought and self-possession. Thus, a witness is often ''confused'' by a severe cross-examination; a timid person is apt to be ''confused in entering a room full of strangers. ** We are confounded'' when our minds are overwhelmed, as it were, by something wholly unexpected, amazing, dreadful, etc., so that we have nothing to say. Thus, a criminal is usually ''confounded at the discovery of his guilt. *::* Satan stood Awhile as mute, confounded what to say. – John Milton

    Synonyms

    * confuse * confound * disconcert * shame * humiliate * embarrass * See also

    Antonyms

    * embolden * reassure

    Derived terms

    * abashed * abashedly * abashedness * abashless * abashment

    Anagrams

    * *

    References