different between plague vs mortify

English

Etymology

From Middle English plage, borrowed from Old French plage, from Latin pl?ga (“blow, wound”), from plang? (“to strike”). Cognate with Middle Dutch pl?ghe (> Dutch plaag), pl?ghen (> Dutch plagen); Middle Low German pl?ge; Middle High German pl?ge, pfl?ge (> German Plage); pl?gen (> German plagen); Swedish plåga; French plaie, Occitan plaga. Doublet of plaga. Displaced native Old English w?l.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pl?g, IPA^(key): /ple??/, [p?l?e??]
• Rhymes: -e??

Noun

plague (countable and uncountable, plural plagues)

1. (often used with the, sometimes capitalized: the Plague) The bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis.
2. (pathology) An epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence, but specifically by the above disease.
3. A widespread affliction, calamity or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution.
4. (figuratively) A grave nuisance, whatever greatly irritates.

5. Collective noun for common grackles

Synonyms

• pest, pestilence

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

plague (third-person singular simple present plagues, present participle plaguing, simple past and past participle plagued)

1. (transitive) To harass, pester or annoy someone persistently or incessantly.
2. (transitive) To afflict with a disease or other calamity.

Derived terms

• plagued
• plaguer

Translations

Spanish

Verb

plague

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of plagar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of plagar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of plagar.

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman mortifier, Middle French mortifier, from Late Latin mortific? (“cause death”), from Latin mors (“death”) + -fic? (“-fy”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?m??t?fa?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?m??t?fa?/

Verb

mortify (third-person singular simple present mortifies, present participle mortifying, simple past and past participle mortified)

1. (transitive) To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires; to practise abstinence on. [from 15th c.]

   Some people seek sainthood by mortifying the body.

   • 1767, Walter Harte, Eulogius: Or, The Charitable Mason

     With fasting mortify'd, worn out with tears.

   • 1688, Matthew Prior, An Ode

     Mortify thy learned lust.

   • Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth.

2. (transitive, usually used passively) To embarrass, to humiliate. To injure one's dignity. [from 17th c.]

   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.
3. (obsolete, transitive) To kill. [14th–17th c.]
4. (obsolete, transitive) To reduce the potency of; to nullify; to deaden, neutralize. [14th–18th c.]
   • 1627, George Hakewill, Apologie […] of the Power and Providence of God

     He […] mortified them [pearls] in vineger aud drunke them vp

5. (obsolete, transitive) To kill off (living tissue etc.); to make necrotic. [15th–18th c.]
6. (obsolete, transitive) To affect with vexation, chagrin, or humiliation; to humble; to depress.
   • 22 September 1651 (date in diary), 1818 (first published), John Evelyn, John Evelyn's Diary

     the news of the fatal battle of Worcester, which exceedingly mortified our expectations

   • 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!

7. (transitive, Scotland, law, 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

8. (intransitive) To lose vitality.
9. (intransitive) To gangrene.
10. (intransitive) To be subdued.

Synonyms

• (to discipline oneself by suppressing desires): macerate
• (to injure one's dignity): demean, humiliate, shame

Antonyms

• (to injure one's dignity): dignify, honor

Related terms

• mortification

Translations