assuage

[ uh-sweyj, uh-sweyzh ]

See synonyms for: assuage assuaging assuagement on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),as·suaged, as·suag·ing.

to make milder or less severe; alleviate; ease; mitigate: to assuage one's grief;to assuage one's pain.
to appease; satisfy; sate: to assuage one's hunger.

to soothe, calm, or mollify: to assuage his fears;to assuage her anger.

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)

Other words for assuage

1, 2	allay, diminish, lessen, relieve

See synonyms for assuage on Thesaurus.com

Opposites for assuage

intensify

See antonyms for assuage on Thesaurus.com

Other words from assuage

as·suage·ment, noun
as·suag·er, noun
un·as·suag·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use assuage in a sentence

To listen was an infinite assuagement, one that was overpoweringly sweet, and for some moments she almost forgot.
A Mere Accident | George Moore
Again a look of complacency, and blessed assuagement, visited the little man.
The Island Pharisees | John Galsworthy
It not only responded to the ache she felt within herself, but gave a promise of assuagement.
The Dust Flower | Basil King
It seemed to her that there could be no assuagement of his misery—that he were better dead.
When the Cock Crows | Waldron Baily
Chaucer does not endeavour to console him; he knows the only assuagement for such sorrows, and leads him on to speak of the dead.
A Literary History of the English People | Jean Jules Jusserand

British Dictionary definitions for assuage

assuage

/ (əˈsweɪdʒ) /

verb(tr)

to soothe, moderate, or relieve (grief, pain, etc)
to give relief to (thirst, appetite, etc); satisfy

to pacify; calm

Origin of assuage

C14: from Old French assouagier, from Vulgar Latin assuāviāre (unattested) to sweeten, from Latin suāvis pleasant; see suave

Derived forms of assuage

assuagement, noun
assuager, noun
assuasive (əˈsweɪsɪv), adjective

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

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