noun

mortality

mawr-TA-lih-tee

noun

The fact of being subject to death; the condition of eventually dying.

"The illness made him confront his own mortality for the first time."

"Grief has a way of reminding the living of their mortality."

The rate of death in a population, usually measured per year or per some fixed number of people.

"Infant mortality has fallen sharply over the past century."

"The report tracked mortality rates across different age groups."

How to Use Mortality

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishEither the simple fact that all living things die, or a statistic showing how many people in a group die over time.

Common mistake

Easy to mix up with "morality" (right and wrong) — mortality is about death, morality is about ethics.

Easily confused with

morality →

Common pairings

infant mortality mortality rate face one's mortality

mortalities plural

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Can you complete this real example?

The illness made him confront his own _____ for the first time.

From Old French mortalite, from Latin mortalitas, built from mors, "death" — the same root behind "mortal" and "murder".

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