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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Mortification \Mor'ti*fi*ca"tion\, noun [F., fr. L. mortificatio a killing. See {Mortify}.]
1. The act of mortifying, or the condition of being mortified; especially: (a) (Med.) The death of one part of an animal body, while the rest continues to live; loss of vitality in some part of a living animal; gangrene. --Dunglison. (b) (Alchem. & Old Chem.) Destruction of active qualities; neutralization. [Obs.] --Bacon. (c) Subjection of the passions and appetites, by penance, abstinence, or painful severities inflicted on the body.
The mortification of our lusts has something in it that is troublesome, yet nothing that is unreasonable. --Tillotson.
2. Deep humiliation or shame, from a loss of pride; painful embarassment, usually arising from exposure of a mistake; chagrin; vexation. [1913 Webster +PJC]
3. That which mortifies; the cause of humiliation, chagrin, or vexation.
It is one of the vexatious mortifications of a studious man to have his thoughts discovered by a tedious visit. --L'Estrange.
4. (Scots Law) A gift to some charitable or religious institution; -- nearly synonymous with {mortmain}.
Syn: Chagrin; vexation; shame. See {Chagrin}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
mortification
noun
1: strong feelings of embarrassment [syn: {chagrin}, {humiliation}]
2: the localized death of living cells (as from infection or the interruption of blood supply) [syn: {necrosis}, {gangrene}, {sphacelus}]
3: an instance in which you are caused to lose your prestige or self-respect; "he had to undergo one humiliation after another" [syn: {humiliation}]
4: (Christianity) the act of mortifying the lusts of the flesh by self-denial and privation (especially by bodily pain or discomfort inflicted on yourself)
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
96 Moby Thesaurus words for "mortification": Albigensianism, Catharism, Day of Atonement, Franciscanism, Sabbatarianism, Trappism, Waldensianism, Yoga, Yom Kippur, abasement, abashment, abstinence, anchoritic monasticism, anchoritism, asceticism, austerity, awkwardness, caries, carrion, chagrin, cold purgatorial fires, comedown, confusion, debasement, decay, decomposition, deflation, descent, discomfiture, discomposure, disconcertedness, disconcertion, disconcertment, discountenance, disgrace, distress, disturbance, dry gangrene, dry rot, dump, embarrassment, eremitism, fasting, flagellation, foulness, gangrene, gas gangrene, hair shirt, hangdog look, humbled pride, humiliation, letdown, lustration, maceration, mendicantism, moist gangrene, monachism, monasticism, necrosis, necrotic tissue, noma, penance, penitence, penitential act, penitential exercise, purgation, purgatory, puritanism, put-down, putrefaction, putrescence, putridity, putridness, rancidity, rancidness, rankness, repentance, rigor, rot, rottenness, sackcloth and ashes, self-abasement, self-abnegation, self-denial, self-diminishment, self-mortification, setdown, shame, shamefacedness, shamefastness, slough, sphacelation, sphacelus, spoilage, tooth decay, voluntary poverty
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