mortify

In a sequence that would mortify anyone averse to audience participation, he gently beseeches a handful of patrons to stand with their hands up and foreheads against the wall, like a row of perpetrators.

From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2024

That it seems a choice at all is what should mortify us.

From Salon ● Feb. 9, 2024

A few years after I sent the quarterback the audio recording, a friend who lived in his dorm told me that he’d played it aloud for his buddies in an effort to mortify me.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2024

“Don’t take advantage of your own position and role to mortify the other.”

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2022

“What’s the point of being old if you can’t mortify the young? Well, I’ll leave you two in peace. Good day, young lady. It was a real pleasure.”

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

It said the spread of English "demeans and mortifies" Italian and proposed that all public and private bodies had to use the language of Dante to promote their goods and services.

From Reuters ● Mar. 31, 2023

Being stalked by an invisible enemy surely mortifies those with an obsessive-compulsive fear of germs, and deepens the distress of many who have experienced waves of uncontrollable anxiety before the epidemic.

From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2020

“I know not which mortifies me most,” he wrote, “that I should fear to write what I think, or my country bear such a state of things.”

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2018

“And he mortifies that body in a way that would shock people like us! He doesn’t drink, he practically only eats vegetables, and he doesn’t touch women.”

From The Guardian ● Sep. 25, 2016

I ought to have read more, for I find I don’t know anything, and it mortifies me.

From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

“I’m mortified to say, however, I fell hard for this one.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

The campaigner said he was "deeply mortified" by the remark, and Bafta and the BBC issued apologies.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

For instance, Washington would have been mortified to hear his rigorously trained Virginia Regiment characterized as a lowly militia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026

"I was absolutely mortified by my actions that day," Cleverly told the panel.

From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2026

She couldn’t stand the thought of Charlie being mortified by her in front of these people who thought so highly of him.

From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson

And how mortifying would it be if Mr. Kemp’s guy made the runoff and won?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026

One particularly mortifying episode from the past haunts Hally.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026

She said that as a dyscalculic student that was a "really humiliating and mortifying experience".

From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026

And then enough time passed that it began to feel slightly mortifying to say, “Hi, I realize I should have introduced myself years ago, but here I am!”

From Salon ● Jan. 27, 2026

But of all the secret punishments that Chacko tormented Mammachi with, the worst and most mortifying of all was when he reminisced about Margaret Kochamma.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy