assuage

[ uh-sweyj, uh-sweyzh ]
See synonyms for: assuageassuagingassuagement on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),as·suaged, as·suag·ing.
  1. to make milder or less severe; alleviate; ease; mitigate: to assuage one's grief;to assuage one's pain.

  2. to appease; satisfy; sate: to assuage one's hunger.

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

Origin of assuage

1
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

Opposites for assuage

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. 2024

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.

British Dictionary definitions for assuage

assuage

/ (əˈsweɪdʒ) /


verb(tr)
  1. to soothe, moderate, or relieve (grief, pain, etc)

  2. to give relief to (thirst, appetite, etc); satisfy

  1. to pacify; calm

Origin of assuage

1
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