mortality (mɔːˈtælɪtɪ
)
Definitions
noun
- the condition of being mortal
- great loss of life, as in war or disaster
- the number of deaths in a given period
- mankind; humanity
- an obsolete word for death
Quotations
"Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return"
Bible: Genesis"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust"
Book of Common Prayer"Old mortality, the ruins of forgotten times"
"All men think all men mortal but themselves"
"Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not"
Bible: Job"Here today and gone tomorrow"
Usage examples
They watched him curiously, as bystanders watch a man condemned to die, for signs of his own awareness of his precarious mortality.
, Death and Transfiguration (1994)There was no such relationship when the researchers compared infant mortality in the wild with home range.
New Scientist (2003)Overall caribou calf mortality on the island has doubled in the last year, said the province's executive director of science, Shane Mahoney.
CBC (2004)Mr O'Connor blames lower mortality rates for keeping couples together for unreasonably long periods of time.
Glasgow Herald (2001)Each spirit who was to come to earth assisted in planning the conditions on earth, including the laws of mortality which would govern us.
, Embraced by the Light (1994)