Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Mortality?

\Mor*tal"i*ty\, n. [L. mortalitas: cf. F. mortalit['e].] 1. The condition or quality of being mortal; subjection to death or to the necessity of dying. When I saw her die, I then did think on your mortality. --Carew. 2. Human life; the life of a mortal being. From this instant There 's nothing serious in mortality. --Shak. 3. Those who are, or that which is, mortal; the human cace; humanity; human nature. Take these tears, mortality's relief. --Pope. 4. Death; destruction. --Shak. 5. The whole sum or number of deaths in a given time or a given community; also, the proportion of deaths to population, or to a specific number of the population; death rate; as, a time of great, or low, mortality; the mortality among the settlers was alarming. {Bill of mortality}. See under {Bill}. {Law of mortality}, a mathematical relation between the numbers living at different ages, so that from a given large number of persons alive at one age, it can be computed what number are likely to survive a given number of years. {Table of mortality}, a table exhibiting the average relative number of persons who survive, or who have died, at the end of each year of life, out of a given number supposed to have been born at the same time.