From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmortal blow/danger/wound etcmortal blow/danger/wound etca) something very serious that may cause the end of something The computer has dealt a mortal blow to traditional printing methods. Our health service is in mortal danger. b) KILLsomething that causes death or may cause death → lethal Near the end of the battle, he received a mortal wound. the screams of men in mortal combat (=fighting until one person kills the other) → mortal
Examples from the Corpus
mortal blow/danger/wound etc• As she reads or hears the news reports of battles, she can ascertain whether he is in mortal danger.• Hellenism no longer represented a mortal danger.• Railroad traffic is a mortal danger.• Yesterday, the joint shop stewards committee of Corporate Jets said a loss of production would be a mortal blow.• His dragon had taken a mortal wound as he and Caledor clashed on the battlefield.• This rust-blood pouring from mortal wounds in the planet's skin is a terrible indictment of the tyranny we climbers inflict. 