mortality
noun
Thomas Paine
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Thoughts on Mortality
Young people tend to assume they will never die, but a person's sense of his or her mortality generally increases year by year, and often increases greatly after a serious accident or illness. Still, many people refuse to change behaviors that would improve their chances of living into old age. Mortality rates are calculated by government agencies, insurance companies, and medical researchers. Infant mortality rates (the rate at which infants die in childbirth) provide a good indicator of a country's overall health; in recent years, the rates in countries like Iceland, Singapore, and Japan have been much better than in the U.S.
Examples of mortality in a Sentence
Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 7 June 2025
The Life of Chuck is, as might be expected from the Master of the Macabre, a story of human mortality presented as a strange, surrealist comedy … a kind of pop-culture version of Lars Von Trier’s 2011 end-of-the-world movie Melancholia.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 6 June 2025
In terms of animal mortality, this year’s bloom was the worst since 2015-16 outbreak that killed thousands of animals between Alaska and Baja California, said SCCOOS director Clarissa Anderson of UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
—Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2025
The statistics paint a sobering picture of young adult mortality.
—Charell G. Coleman, Forbes.com, 4 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for mortality
Cite this Entry
“Mortality.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mortality. Accessed 12 Jun. 2025.
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mortality
noun
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mortality
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