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comfort

[ kuhm-fert ]
/ ˈkʌm fərt /
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See synonyms for: comfort / comforted / comforting / comforts on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)
noun
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Origin of comfort

1175–1225; (v.) Middle English comfortien, variant of confortien,conforten<Anglo-French, Old French conforter<Late Latin confortāre to strengthen, equivalent to con-con- + -fortāre verbal derivative of Latin fortis strong; (noun) Middle English <Anglo-French, Old French, noun derivative of the v.

synonym study for comfort

1. Comfort, console, relieve, soothe imply assuaging sorrow, worry, discomfort, or pain. To comfort is to lessen the sadness or sorrow of someone and to strengthen by inspiring with hope and restoring a cheerful outlook: to comfort a despairing person. Console, a more formal word, means to make grief or distress seem lighter, by means of kindness and thoughtful attentions: to console a bereaved parent. Relieve means to lighten, lessen, or remove pain, trouble, discomfort, or hardship: to relieve a needy person. Soothe means to pacify or calm: to soothe a child. 8. See ease.

OTHER WORDS FROM comfort

com·fort·less, adjectiveun·com·fort·ed, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH comfort

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

How to use comfort in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for comfort

comfort
/ (ˈkʌmfət) /

noun
verb (tr)
to ease the pain of; soothe; cheer
to bring physical ease to

Derived forms of comfort

Word Origin for comfort

C13: from Old French confort, from Late Latin confortāre to strengthen very much, from Latin con- (intensive) + fortis strong
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

Other Idioms and Phrases with comfort

comfort

see cold comfort; creature comforts; too close for comfort.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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