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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Liable or subject to death.
  2. adj. Of or relating to humankind; human: the mortal limits of understanding.
  3. adj. Of, relating to, or accompanying death: mortal throes.
  4. adj. Causing death; fatal: a mortal wound. See Synonyms at fatal.
  5. adj. Fighting or fought to the death; unrelenting: a mortal enemy; a mortal attack.
  6. adj. Of great intensity or severity; dire: mortal terror.
  7. adj. Conceivable: no mortal reason for us to go.
  8. adj. Used as an intensive: a mortal fool.
  9. n. A human.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Subject to death; destined to die.
  2. Human; of or pertaining to man, who is subject to death: as, mortal knowledge; mortal power.
  3. Deadly; destructive to life; causing death, or that may or must cause death; fatal.
  4. Deadly; implacable; to the death; such as threatens life: as, mortal hatred.
  5. Such that injury or disease affecting it may cause death.
  6. Bringing death; noting the time of death.
  7. Incurring the penalty of spiritual death; inferring divine condemnation: opposed to venial: as, a mortal sin (see sin).
  8. Extreme; very great or serious: as, mortal offense.
  9. Long and uninterrupted; felt to be long and tedious.
  10. Euphemistically, confounded; cursed: as, not a mortal thing to eat.
  11. Drunk.
  12. n. Man, as a being subject to death; a human being.
  13. n. That which is mortal.
  14. Extremely; excessively; perfectly: as, mortal angry; mortal drunk.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Susceptible to death by aging, sickness, injury, or wound
  2. n. A human; someone susceptible to death.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Subject to death; destined to die.
  2. adj. Destructive to life; causing or occasioning death; terminating life; exposing to or deserving death; deadly.
  3. adj. Fatally vulnerable; vital.
  4. adj. Of or pertaining to the time of death.
  5. adj. Affecting as if with power to kill; deathly.
  6. adj. Human; belonging to man, who is mortal.
  7. adj. Very painful or tedious; wearisome.
  8. n. A being subject to death; a human being; man.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. subject to death
  2. n. a human being
  3. adj. involving loss of divine grace or spiritual death
  4. adj. unrelenting and deadly
  5. adj. causing or capable of causing death

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mortālis, from mors, mort-, death; see mer- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

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Comments

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  • oroboros contronymic: fatal as in "mortal blow";living beings, "mortals" Dec 9, 2006

‘mortal’ has been looked up 1602 times, added to 55 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 8.