lenitive
Americanadjective
-
softening, soothing, or mitigating, as medicines or applications.
-
mildly laxative.
noun
-
a lenitive medicine or application.
-
a mild laxative.
-
Archaic. anything that softens or soothes.
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
- lenitively adverb
- lenitiveness noun
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
In obstinate cases, three drams of carbon may be taken two or three times a day, mixed with three ounces of lenitive electuary, and two drams of carbonate of soda, as circumstances may require.
From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Eaton, Mary, fl. 1823-1849
And in the hospital of the mind, the lenitive and fostering measures have a still larger share in the work of a moral restoration.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 358, August 1845 by Various
As these gradually yielded to the lenitive power of time, I sought his conversation for the positive pleasure it afforded, and at last it became the chief source of my happiness.
From A Voyage to the Moon by Tucker, George
I rode to Kensington and procured her a lenitive, with which I returned.
From Anna St. Ives by Holcroft, Thomas
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.
