mortality

mortality — noun

1. the fact that all living things, including humans, must eventually die and canno

1.nounB2
Definition

the fact that all living things, including humans, must eventually die and cannot continue living forever

Example

After his heart attack, Rodrigo began thinking seriously about his own mortality.

collocation: [one's] own mortality

Yuki's poetry often explores themes of mortality and the passage of time.

collocation: themes of mortality

Common collocations
  • own mortality
  • human mortality
  • confront mortality
  • face mortality
  • accept mortality
  • awareness of mortality
  • fear of mortality
  • our shared mortality
Synonyms
  • impermanence

    More philosophical and literary; emphasises the temporary nature of all things, not just life

  • transience

    Formal or literary; focuses on the brief, fleeting quality of existence

  • finitude

    Academic and abstract; refers to the state of having limits, including but not limited to lifespan

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

mortality + of + noun phrase

possessive + mortality

Usage Note

Unlike death, which refers to a specific event when someone dies, mortality describes the general condition of being alive and therefore certain to die one day. Frequently uncountable and used with a possessive determiner (our mortality, human mortality).

Common Mistakes

The doctor said his mortality was caused by cancer.
The doctor said his death was caused by cancer.
Mortality is the state of being subject to death, not the death event itself. Use 'death' for the specific occurrence.
There is a high mortality in that country' (ambiguous).
There is a high mortality rate in that country.
Without 'rate,' the sentence may be read as the abstract concept rather than a statistical measure.

2. a statistical measure of how many people die within a specific group, area, or t

2.nounB2
Definition

a statistical measure of how many people die within a specific group, area, or time frame, often expressed as a rate or percentage

Example

A 2023 WHO study found infant mortality in rural Ethiopia dropped 40% after mass vaccination.

collocation: infant mortality

The hospital reported a lower-than-average mortality rate for heart surgery patients.

collocation: mortality rate for [procedure/condition]

Common collocations
  • infant mortality
  • maternal mortality
  • child mortality
  • cancer mortality
  • mortality rate
  • mortality figures
  • mortality data
  • high mortality
  • low mortality
  • reduce mortality
  • mortality among [group]
Synonyms
  • death rate

    More transparent and common in everyday language; interchangeable with 'mortality rate'

  • fatality rate

    Typically used for accidents, disasters, or diseases; emphasises individual fatal incidents

Antonyms
  • survival rate

    The proportion of people who remain alive in a specific group or context

Grammar Patterns

[adjective] mortality

mortality + rate + for/of + [population]

mortality + among + [group]

Usage Note

Often used with a modifier that specifies the population or cause (infant mortality, cancer mortality, maternal mortality). When citing a specific number, 'mortality rate' is clearer than 'mortality' alone and is the preferred form in academic and journalistic writing.

Common Mistakes

The mortality of cancer is 30%.
The cancer mortality rate is 30%.
Use 'mortality rate' rather than 'mortality' alone when giving a percentage.
Infant mortality increased by 5% deaths.
Infant mortality increased by 5%.
Avoid redundancy. 'Mortality' already refers to deaths; adding 'deaths' is repetitive.

Word family

  • mortal
    adjectiveB2
  • mortal
    nounC1
  • mortally
    adverbC2
  • immortal
    adjectiveC1
  • immortality
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

While mortality refers to the state of being subject to death — the fact that life is finite — death denotes the specific event or moment of dying. For instance, 'The mortality of all living things is a biological certainty' discusses a general condition, whereas 'The death of the old tree marked the end of an era' refers to a particular occurrence. Fatality is narrower, used mainly for deaths from accidents, disasters, or violence ('The crash resulted in three fatalities'). Impermanence and transience are more literary alternatives: impermanence emphasises that nothing lasts forever, not just life ('The impermanence of youth'), while transience focuses on the brief, passing quality of experiences ('the transience of happiness'). In daily language, mortality appears most often in reflective or philosophical contexts, death in both concrete and abstract settings, and fatality in news reports about incidents.

death ↗impermanencetransiencefatality ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • declining mortality
  • rising mortality

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

From Latin mortālis (subject to death), which comes from mors (death). The word entered English through Old French mortalité during the 14th century. Related English words include mortal, immortal, and mortician — all drawing on the same Latin root for death.