pacifier
Americannoun
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a person or thing that pacifies.
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a rubber or plastic device, often shaped into a nipple, for a baby to suck or bite on.
noun
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a person or thing that pacifies
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a baby's dummy or teething ring
Etymology
Origin of pacifier
Explanation
A pacifier is a soothing device for babies that's made of rubber, silicone, or plastic. If you can picture the cartoon character Maggie Simpson, then you can picture a pacifier. Most infants are born with a strong need to suck, and many of them suck their own thumbs or fingers to soothe themselves. A pacifier works the same way. While some parents and even doctors worry that continuing to use pacifiers too long can damage babies' developing teeth and palates, such problems are actually very rare. The original meaning of pacifier is "anything (or anyone) that pacifies," from the Latin pacificare, "make peace; calm."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Occasional weird inventions are folded in: a “hambulance” delivering ham; food trucks selling potato ice cream and soup on a stick; something called Pacifier Shirt Syndrome, caused by rubbing a dropped pacifier on a short.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2025
Nearly a decade after Twin Sitters, Vin Diesel played a US Navy Seal who had to take care of five kids in The Pacifier.
From The Guardian • Mar. 10, 2020
The American Pacifier thesis is a plausible causal explanation for an empirical reality: the world really is more peaceful and more stable.
From Time • Jan. 14, 2017
Moreover, the FBI’s refusal to discuss Operation Pacifier and reveal exactly how it was conducted — even in court — has threatened some of the resulting criminal prosecutions.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 27, 2016
As a reward for these Page 183achievements Yao canonized Shên I with the title of Marquis Pacifier of the Country.
From Myths and Legends of China by Werner, E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
