lenitive
Americanadjective
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softening, soothing, or mitigating, as medicines or applications.
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mildly laxative.
noun
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a lenitive medicine or application.
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a mild laxative.
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Archaic. anything that softens or soothes.
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lenitive
From the Medieval Latin word lēnītīvus, dating back to 1535–45. See lenition, -ive
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.
In the first week of the war the London Times recommended, for blackout nights, a reperusal of such "lenitive" 19th Century giants as Trollope and Dickens.
From Time Magazine Archive
She was immediately blooded, took the oily Draughts three Times a-Day, the decoctum furfuris for common Drink, and so much lenitive Electuary as procured her a Stool next Day.
From An Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British military hospitals in Germany by Donald Monro
Of moods they breathe that care disarm, They pledge us lenitive and calm.
From John Marr and Other Poems by Herman Melville
Is the contemplation of their own history and respect for their own traditions the lenitive he prescribes for a people whose only history is a revolution, whose only tradition is rebellion?
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 10, August, 1858 by Various
Food and a lenitive were left within their reach, and when able they followed their kinsmen; the alternative is the terrible risk of a wandering life.
From The History of Tasmania , Volume II by John West
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.
