massage
Americannoun
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massages
plural
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the act or art of treating the body by rubbing, kneading, patting, or the like, to stimulate circulation, increase suppleness, relieve tension, etc.
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Slang. attentive or indulgent treatment; pampering.
ego massage.
verb (used with object)
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massages,
present (3rd person singular)
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massaged,
past participle, past
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massaging
present participle
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to treat by massage.
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Slang. to treat with special care and attention; coddle or pamper.
The store massages its regular customers with gifts and private sales.
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Informal.
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to manipulate, maneuver, or handle skillfully.
to massage a bill through the Senate.
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to manipulate, organize, or rearrange (data, figures, or the like) to produce a specific result, especially a favorable one.
The auditors discovered that the company had massaged the books.
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noun
verb
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to give a massage to
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to treat (stiffness, aches, etc) by a massage
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to manipulate (statistics, data, etc) so that they appear to support a particular interpretation or to be better than they are; doctor
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to boost someone's sense of self-esteem by flattery
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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massagesimple
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massagessimple
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have massagedperfect
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has massagedperfect
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am massagingprogressive
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are massagingprogressive
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is massagingprogressive
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have been massagingperfect progressive
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has been massagingperfect progressive
Past
-
massagedsimple
-
had massagedperfect
-
was massagingprogressive
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were massagingprogressive
-
had been massagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of massage
1875–80; < French, equivalent to mass ( er ) to massage (< Arabic massa to handle) + -age -age
Explanation
When someone rubs your muscles to help relax them, that's a massage. Feels good, doesn't it? When someone tells you how great you are to gain favor, they massage your ego. Not bad, either. The word massage has a mysterious background, possibly coming from the Arabic massa, meaning "to touch," finding its way to 19th Century France by way of Napoleon. Would you accept a foot massage from Napoleon? Or, it might have worked its way to France from India, where amassar carries the meaning "knead." The year 1913 saw the first massage parlor, which was really a brothel. Today massage is a recognized form of physical therapy and is, of course, practiced by amateurs too. A little to the left, please.
Vocabulary lists containing massage
Brown Girl Dreaming
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English Words Derived from French, List 5
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Towers Falling
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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.
See Examples For:
She is also calling for colleges to introduce a separate safety module covering appropriate massage techniques for male clients, red flags to look out for and what to do if a situation becomes unsafe.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
That led him to attend massage school — not to start a career as a massage therapist, he said, but to learn how to give back to others.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
US government lawyers pushed back against the brothers' claims that they had exaggerated their wealth to massage their online personas.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
The charge was eventually dropped after a court ruled that video and audio from secretly installed cameras at the massage parlor could not be used as evidence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
If so you are in luck, for the traditional platza massage using a venik is practiced in Russian baths to this very day.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
She’s 25 and unemployed, and it’s unclear at first how she acquired the funds to splurge on an on-site cottage with a pool, 90-minute massages, and various forced-fun adventures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
About 30% of that total comes from add-on services such as massages and personal training sessions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Located at Rosedale Center, the spa offers nail services alongside massages, facials and body treatments in a calm, welcoming setting.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
However, in February whistleblowing retired civil servants told the BBC that Mountbatten-Windsor charged taxpayers for excessive travel costs and massages while working in the UK trade envoy role.
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
Lourdes massages her eyes and begins walking with legs that feel held by splints.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
It features whole leaves of romaine lettuce massaged by hand with a dressing of fresh garlic, lime, Worcestershire, soft-poached eggs and Cantabrian anchovies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
The filler is then massaged to give an even look, which the patient continues as home.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Petty crimes dropped, as did homicides, according to official data, though some disputed the data as possibly massaged to benefit authorities.
From Barron's ● May 10, 2026
Next she cleaned my face, applied massage cream and gently massaged my face and eye area, manipulating the outer corners of my eye sockets as well as under my brow bones and on my temples.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 6, 2026
Feet and legs should be raised, massaged, and swabbed in a warm infusion of willow bark, camphor, and arrowroot.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Robots were everywhere, dancing in unison, making cappuccinos, shooting soccer goals, massaging visitors and playing the piano.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Sound possesses power, whether you’ll be weary from dancing or blissed out from the frequencies massaging your nerves.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026
Standing around a kitchen island with a small group of other food writers, I pull on a pair of plastic gloves and begin massaging a bright red paste into wedges of cabbage.
From BBC ● Dec. 13, 2025
When you’re wringing billions of dollars in profits out of the sickly, you’ve got to put some money into massaging public opinion.
From Slate ● Mar. 3, 2025
“Grandma,” I said, stepping away from the mixing bowl and massaging the ache out of my arm.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
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.
