assuage
Americanverb (used with object)
-
assuages,
present (3rd person singular)
-
assuaged,
past participle, past
-
assuaging
present participle
verb
-
to soothe, moderate, or relieve (grief, pain, etc)
-
to give relief to (thirst, appetite, etc); satisfy
-
to pacify; calm
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
assuagesimple
-
assuagessimple
-
have assuagedperfect
-
has assuagedperfect
-
am assuagingprogressive
-
are assuagingprogressive
-
is assuagingprogressive
-
have been assuagingperfect progressive
-
has been assuagingperfect progressive
Past
-
assuagedsimple
-
had assuagedperfect
-
was assuagingprogressive
-
were assuagingprogressive
-
had been assuagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of assuage
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English aswagen, from Old French asouagier, from unrecorded Vulgar Latin assuāviāre, equivalent to Latin as- as- + -suāviāre, verbal derivative of Latin suāvis “agreeable to the taste, pleasant” ( cf. suave; akin to sweet )
Explanation
If you assuage an unpleasant feeling, you make it go away. Assuaging your hunger by eating a bag of marshmallows may cause you other unpleasant feelings. The most common things that we assuage are fears, concerns, guilt, grief, anxiety, and anger. That makes a lot of sense — these are all things we seek relief from. The word comes from Old French assouagier, from the Latin root suavis, "sweet" — think of adding a bit of honey to something unpleasant. A word with a similar meaning is mollify.
Vocabulary lists containing assuage
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
To Kill a Mockingbird
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Giver
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Given how strong both Nvidia and Broadcom expect AI growth to be in the next few years, Li said the recent announcements “may help to assuage supply concerns” for the companies.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
But the announcement will assuage concerns raised by previous speculation that the World Cup final halftime show itself could stretch for as long as 25 minutes.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
Except the Dodgers weren’t dreaming, and the team hadn’t done much to assuage the concerns with Sasaki.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
But that statement has done little to assuage the rumours, with supporters even interrupting a June city council meeting in American Fork City to accuse the police of misconduct.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
The memories swirled, silver white and strange, and without hesitating, with a feeling of reckless abandonment, as though this would assuage his torturing grief, Harry dived.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
Tuesday's move assuages what had been growing frustration at the lack of a big picture vision from the Labour government.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2026
To Friedman, the answer to the first question assuages concern about the second.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2024
A sort of penance, where by reading all the nasty comments under every post she assuages some of her guilt, as a zealot whips himself bloody to atone for sin?
From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2024
Having Castillo atop the rotation certainly assuages many of those feelings.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 5, 2023
It is silence, peaceful silence, cool longing which assuages, and so all of life is kind and large, maternal and womanly—soft.
From Paul Verlaine by Stefan Zweig
Nor has the boom in stock prices assuaged discontent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
That hasn’t assuaged concerns among some that a dot-com-style bubble may be building, especially given the sharp run-up.
From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026
In an instant, Urbina’s fears had been assuaged.
From Salon ● May 2, 2026
That was partly assuaged when the cast, made up of up-and-coming talent rather than established names, was announced.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious..."
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
Given the stock’s retreat over recent months, stronger-than-expected results, amid low expectations, “could go a long way in assuaging several of these investor concerns.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
The goal was to provide enterprise customers more powerful tools while assuaging the White House’s concerns that they could be weaponized by bad actors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
The presence of the Ivorian army in the remote and long-neglected northeast, hundreds of kilometres from the economic capital Abidjan, has succeeded in assuaging locals' concerns -- to an extent.
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2025
Universities, far from assuaging that constant fear, should fight to make it a reality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2025
During the first months of their marriage, he called Celia every night, his gentle voice assuaging her.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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.
