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
- 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
Yet see, Sir, the effect of that lenitive, though mixed with these bitter ingredients; and how this rugged people can express themselves on a measure of concession.
From James Otis, the pre-revolutionist by Ridpath, John Clark
Catholicon, is little used, or made here, the lenitive Electuary of our Dispensatory may be substituted for it, or that of the Edinburgh Dispensatory, which was calculated particularly for Glysters.
From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by Tissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David)
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
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
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.
