student asking question

What's the difference of “mortifying” and “humiliated”?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Mortifying" and "humiliating" both mean that something has severely hurt one's pride or dignity. The main difference between the two is that "mortifying" may be more extreme. Usually, if something is embarrassing, people use the word "humiliating". However, if something is extremely embarrassing and it affects someone more than usual, "mortifying" is used. Ex: I forgot part of the lyrics of the song in the performance. It was so humiliating. Ex: My pants fell down in front of the entire class. It was mortifying!

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