mortal

From Middle English mortal, mortel, from Old French mortal, and their source Latin mortālis, from mors (“death”). Partly displaced native deadly, from Old English dēadlīċ.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔːtəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔɹtəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)təl

mortal (comparative more mortal, superlative most mortal)

1. Susceptible to death by aging, sickness, injury, or wound; not immortal. [from 14th c.]
2. Causing death; deadly, fatal, killing, lethal (now only of wounds, injuries etc.). [from 14th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Blyndfold he was; and in his cruell fist
     A mortall bow and arrowes keene did hold […]

   • 1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 263:

     into the plain
     Disgorged at length, the dead and the alive,
     In one dread mass, were parted, and the stain
     Of blood from mortal steel fell o’er the fields like rain.

3. Punishable by death.
4. Fatally vulnerable.
   • 1670, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC:

     Last of all, against himself he turns his sword, but missing the mortal place, with his poniard finishes the work.

5. Of or relating to the time of death.
   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:

     Safe in the hand of one disposing Power,
     Or in the natal or the mortal hour.

6. Affecting as if with power to kill; deathly.

   mortal enemy

   • 1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     The nymph grew pale, and in a mortal fright.

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     I was in mortal fear lest the captain should repent of his confessions and make an end of me.

   • 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 13:20 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?‎, archived from the original on 3 November 2022:

     Although the Japanese have engaged with little hesitation, they are as surprised as the Americans to be fighting this battle. Although the escort-carrier groups have been under sporadic air attack for over a week, these attacks appear to have been conducted by aircraft from the Japanese Army, who, of course, have utterly failed to mention any of this to their counterparts-dash-rivals-dash-mortal enemies in the Imperial Japanese Navy.

7. Human; belonging or pertaining to people who are mortal.

   mortal wit or knowledge; mortal power

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     The voice of God
     To mortal ear is dreadful.

   • 2012, Olivia Gates, Immortal, Insatiable, Indomitable, Harlequin, →ISBN:

     “It's just...I hesitated to call the police. I wasn't sure you'd appreciate their presence.” He sure wouldn't. Mortal scum he could dispatch. Mortal law enforcement he avoided at all costs […]

8. Very painful or tedious; wearisome.

   a sermon lasting two mortal hours

   • a. 1832, Walter Scott, To Halbert
9. (Scotland, Geordie, slang) Very drunk.

   Synonym: mortalled

   • 1995, Alan Warner, Morvern Callar, Vintage, published 2015, page 13:

     Thats^[sic] nothing, says Tequila Sheila, who told how the summer she was housemaid in The Saint Columba she took this guy back to the staff flats while mortal on slammers and crashed out on him before anything could happen.

10. (religion, of a sin) Causing spiritual death.

• (causing death): fatal, lethal, baneful

• (antonym(s) of “susceptible to death”): immortal, everlasting
• (antonym(s) of “of or relating to death”): natal, vital
• (antonym(s) of “causing death”): vital
• (antonym(s) of “causing spiritual death”): venial

• mortal coil
• mortal combat
• mortal remains
• mortal sin
• mortalism
• mortality
• mortalize
• mortally
• mortalness
• shuffle off this mortal coil

mortal (plural mortals)

1. A human; someone susceptible to death.

   Antonym: immortal

   Her wisdom was beyond that of a mere mortal.

   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Lord what fools these mortals be!

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

     But then I had the flintlock by me for protection.
     There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […].

• lesser mortal
• mere mortal

• moribund

mortal (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Mortally; enough to cause death.

   It's mortal cold out there.

• IPA^(key): /moɾˈtal/, [moɾˈt̪al]

mortal (epicene, plural mortales)

1. mortal (susceptible to death)
2. mortal (causing death; deadly; fatal; killing)
3. deadly (lethal)

   Synonym: mortíferu

Borrowed from Latin mortālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [murˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [morˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [moɾˈtal]

mortal m or f (masculine and feminine plural mortals)

1. mortal

   Antonym: immortal

2. deadly, lethal

• mortalitat

mortal m or f by sense (plural mortals)

1. mortal

• “mortal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “mortal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “mortal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “mortal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Old Galician-Portuguese mortal, and their source Latin mortālis, from mors (“death”).

• IPA^(key): [moɾˈtal]

mortal m or f (plural mortais)

1. (not comparable) susceptible to death; mortal

   Antonym: inmortal

2. (comparable) prone to cause death; deadly; lethal; fatal

   Synonym: mortífero

mortal m or f by sense (plural mortais)

1. a mortal, a human (someone susceptible to death)

   Antonym: inmortal

mortal m or f (plural mortais)

1. (gymnastics) a somersault

   Synonyms: pinchacarneiro, reviravolta

• “mortal” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “mortal” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “mortal” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “mortal” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “mortal” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

mortal (not comparable)

1. mortal (liable to die)

   Illo es un mortal wombat, illo decomponera etiam.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. mortal (causing death)

   Un mortal wombat attaccava ille.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• mortalitate
• morte

mortal m or f by sense (apocopated)

1. Apocopic form of mortale

• IPA^(key): /murˈtal/
• Rhymes: -al

mortal

1. mortal
2. deadly, lethal

From Old Galician-Portuguese mortal, and their source Latin mortālis, from mors (“death”). By surface analysis, morte +‎ -al.

• Homophone: murtal (Portugal)
• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: mor‧tal

mortal m or f (plural mortais, comparable, comparative mais mortal, superlative o mais mortal or mortalíssimo)

1. (not comparable) susceptible to death; mortal

   Antonym: imortal

2. (comparable) prone to cause death; deadly; lethal; fatal

• mortalidade

mortal m or f by sense (plural mortais)

1. a mortal, a human (someone susceptible to death)

   Antonym: imortal

2. (gymnastics) a somersault

• “mortal” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Borrowed from Latin mortalis or Italian mortale. By surface analysis, mort +‎ -al.

mortal m or n (feminine singular mortală, masculine plural mortali, feminine and neuter plural mortale)

1. mortal, deadly

From Latin mortālis.

• IPA^(key): /moɾˈtal/ [moɾˈt̪al]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: mor‧tal

mortal m or f (masculine and feminine plural mortales)

1. deadly
2. mortal

   Antonym: inmortal

• “mortal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014