Definition of "self-mortification" [self-mortification]

• Voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing (noun)

WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.

• "El Escorial must surely count as one of the most extravagant acts of self-mortification ever accomplished by a Catholic prince."
• "In yogic tradition, tapas, or literally heat, is the practice of discipline and asceticism that brings one in direct contact with the divine -- and in many lineages it involved extreme self-denial and even self-mortification."
• "It's everything that's wrong with a decent man, all that loyal soldier stuff, and everything right, too: One by one, in acts of excruciating self-mortification, the guy is reversing each of the grievous stands he took."