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assuage

[uh-sweyj, uh-sweyzh]
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verb (used with object), as·suaged, as·suag·ing.
  1. to make milder or less severe; relieve; ease; mitigate: to assuage one's grief; to assuage one's pain.
  2. to appease; satisfy; allay; relieve: to assuage one's hunger.
  3. to soothe, calm, or mollify: to assuage his fears; to assuage her anger.
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Origin of assuage

1250–1300; Middle English aswagen < Old French asouagier < Vulgar Latin *assuāviāre, equivalent to Latin as- as- + -suāviāre, verbal derivative of Latin suāvis agreeable to the taste, pleasant (cf. suave; akin to sweet)
Related formsas·suage·ment, nounas·suag·er, nounun·as·suaged, adjectiveun·as·suag·ing, adjective

Synonyms

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1. alleviate, lessen.

Antonyms

intensify.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

satisfymitigateplacateappeasequenchlessensoftensatealleviatepacifymollifyallaytempertranquilizefillsurfeitpalliateconciliateeasemoderate

Examples from the Web for assuage

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • To assuage remorse, she sought to give evidence as to a prevalent sympathy.

    Within the Law

    Marvin Dana

  • But his well-meant attempt to assuage the stricken creature's wo was futile.

    Within the Law

    Marvin Dana

  • For a long while he was preoccupied by an intense desire to assuage it.

    A Spirit in Prison

    Robert Hichens

  • Thus I assuage my conscience and justify the fun, the joy, the excitement, and the violence.

  • It was Roger's first experience in trying to assuage the grief of any one else.

    The Forbidden Trail

    Honor Willsie

British Dictionary definitions for assuage

assuage

verb (tr)
  1. to soothe, moderate, or relieve (grief, pain, etc)
  2. to give relief to (thirst, appetite, etc); satisfy
  3. to pacify; calm
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Derived Formsassuagement, nounassuager, nounassuasive (əˈsweɪsɪv), adjective

Word Origin

C14: from Old French assouagier, from Vulgar Latin assuāviāre (unattested) to sweeten, from Latin suāvis pleasant; see suave
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for assuage

v.

c.1300, from Anglo-French assuager, Old French assoagier "soften, moderate, alleviate, calm, soothe, pacify," from Vulgar Latin *adsuaviare, from Latin ad- "to" (see ad-) + suavis "sweet, agreeable" (see sweet). For sound development in French, cf. deluge from Latin diluvium, abridge from abbreviare. Related: Assuaged; assuaging.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper