mortality

/mɔrˈtælədi/

/mɔˈtælɪti/

Other forms: mortalities

One of the most difficult things for a child is experiencing the death of a beloved pet; it's a hard lesson in mortality. Mortality is the quality of being mortal, or the reality of death.

It's not easy for most people to come to terms with their own mortality, or the fact that they really will die someday. Mortality can refer to an individual or to a larger group of people, particularly when you're talking about the total number of deaths within a population, using the phrase mortality rate. The words mortality and mortal come from the Latin root mortis, or "death."

Definitions of mortality

1. noun

   the quality or state of being mortal
   antonyms:

   immortality

   the quality or state of being immortal

   type of:

   impermanence, impermanency

   the property of not existing for indefinitely long durations
2. noun

   the ratio of deaths in an area to the population of that area; expressed per 1000 per year
   synonyms: death rate, deathrate, fatality rate, mortality rate

   types:

   infant deathrate, infant mortality, infant mortality rate

   the death rate during the first year of life

   neonatal mortality, neonatal mortality rate

   the death rate during the first 28 days of life

   type of:

   rate

   a magnitude or frequency relative to a time unit