Word.ws English Dictionary

mortmain

/ˈmɔːt.meɪn/US/ˈmɔɹt.meɪn/

mortmain noun: the perpetual, inalienable possession of lands by a corporation or non-personal entity such as a church.

Noun

mortmain (usually uncountable, plural mortmains)

  1. (usually) The perpetual, inalienable possession of lands by a corporation or non-personal entity such as a church.
    • [W]e do hereby grant our especial license and authority unto all and every person […] to grant sell alien and convey in mortmain unto and to the use of the said Society and their successors […]1824, Charter of Incorporation of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland
    • Though in truth it was the law of mortmain […] which originally sent the founders of chantries to seek the king's licence […]1900, Frederic William Maitland, “The Corporation Sole”, in Law Quarterly Review, volume 16
  2. (literary, usually) A strong and inalienable possession.
    • […]; and some part of that influence [of the government], which would otherwise have been possessed as in a sort of mortmain and unalienable domain, returned again to the great ocean from whence it arose, […]1770, Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Present Discontents, and Speeches

mortmain meaning in Tamil

mortmain in Tamil

ஆள்மாற்றமுடியா அறநிலைச்சொத்து, மாற்ற முடியா அறமுறைச் சொத்டதுநிலை

Forms of mortmain

pluralmortmains

Origin of mortmain

From Anglo-Norman mortmayn, morte meyn, from Old French mortes meins, after Late Latin phrase mortua manus. See Latin mortuus (“dead”) + manus (“hand”).

Questions about mortmain

What does mortmain mean?
Mortmain means the perpetual, inalienable possession of lands by a corporation or non-personal entity such as a church.
What is mortmain in Tamil?
Mortmain in Tamil is ஆள்மாற்றமுடியா அறநிலைச்சொத்து, மாற்ற முடியா அறமுறைச் சொத்டதுநிலை. See Mortmain meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is mortmain?
Mortmain is a noun.
How do you pronounce mortmain?
Mortmain is pronounced /ˈmɔːt.meɪn/ (UK).
What is the plural of mortmain?
The plural of mortmain is mortmains.

Words near mortmain in the dictionary

  1. Mortleman
  2. mortling
  3. mortlings
  4. Mortlock
  5. Mortlockese
  6. mortmain
  7. mortmainer
  8. mortmainers
  9. mortmains
  10. mortmal
  11. morto

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mortmain (page history and authors); mortmain (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-mortmain.wav.

Cite this entry: “mortmain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mortmain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.