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
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massagedsimple
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had massagedperfect
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was massagingprogressive
-
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:
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
Police searching the neighbouring massage parlour found a hole being dug through an adjoining wall into the jewellery store, along with bags of tools.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
So now, players have access to infrared beds, sensory deprivation tanks and AI-led massage chairs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Netball flourished alongside hockey, tennis, cricket, cycling, swimming and dancing, while students were taught anatomy, physiology and hygiene, theory of movement, massage and medicine gymnastics.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
I run my fingers through her hair and massage her scalp.
From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick
What you get: TSA with no lines and other amenities including massages and being chauffeured to your commercial plane.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 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
This year, attendees can sign up for free massages, red light therapy sessions, lymphatic drainage boots, and—thanks in part to a partnership with LEGO—partake in a series of analog “adult play” installations.
From Slate ● May 8, 2026
We wrote about Aescape when it debuted at Pause, a wellness center in Studio City — it performs a 3D scan of your body to deliver custom robot massages.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026
David presses his thumb into his palm and massages his hand, clearly disconcerted by all the interruptions.
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
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
Hours after giving birth, I sat in my hospital bed holding my newborn as a nurse massaged my breasts.
From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2024
She made small circles with her right arm, then massaged it.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
"This is the Zygopush," Marvin tells me, while pressing his thumbs directly under his cheekbones and massaging upwards towards his ears in an attempt to hollow out his cheeks.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
While Cyndee is massaging her sore feet on a bench, Bert strikes up a casual conversation with a young woman the next bench over.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 19, 2025
It took some massaging of the situation to get Sienna back on board with becoming a Bruin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 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
Mom massaging me with lotion after a bath—I can still smell the lavender—then wrapping me in a fluffy towel with a little hood built into one corner.
From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper
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.
