verb
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to pacify; soothe
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to lessen the harshness or severity of
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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mollificationnoun
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mollifiernoun
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remollifyverb (used with object)
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mollifiableadjective
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unmollifiableadjective
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unmollifyingadjective
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mollifyinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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mollifysimple
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mollifiessimple
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have mollifiedperfect
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has mollifiedperfect
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am mollifyingprogressive
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are mollifyingprogressive
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is mollifyingprogressive
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have been mollifyingperfect progressive
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has been mollifyingperfect progressive
Past
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mollifiedsimple
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had mollifiedperfect
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was mollifyingprogressive
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were mollifyingprogressive
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had been mollifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mollify
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French mollifier, from Late Latin mollificāre, equivalent to Latin molli(s) “soft” + -ficāre -fy
Explanation
To mollify is to calm someone down, soothe their anger or anxiety. A parent might mollify a crying baby with a pacifier. A store manager might offer a full refund to mollify an outraged customer. Mollify comes from the Latin mollificare, "to make soft," and that's still at the heart of the word. When you mollify someone, you smooth things over, even if you're maybe still a little mad: "I was angry that the guy took my seat, but I was mollified when he offered me one closer to the band." Unlike the sharp sounds of antagonize, there are only soft sounds in this word that means to make someone feel soft and cuddly. Although dryer sheets might soften your clothes, they don't mollify them (unless your clothes were really mad at you before).
Vocabulary lists containing mollify
Of Mice and Men
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Power Suffix: -fy
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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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.
See Examples For:
“They showed they could weather the storm and the administration had to climb down from the tariffs and spend most of the past year trying to mollify China.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
Official L.A., anxious to mollify angry and frightened Angelenos, dropped the hammer on a plant near downtown L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
X in June sought to mollify the EU by adding a disclaimer to the checkmark.
From Barron's ● Nov. 27, 2025
The first of these groups includes Bannon and may be the trickiest to mollify.
From BBC ● Feb. 8, 2025
Humans, for their part, can address the rock, to mollify or threaten it.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
He mollifies a suspicious Senate subcommittee Did he or didn't he?
From Time Magazine Archive
"It mollifies the entire course of postoperative pain."
From Time Magazine Archive
This mollifies him, and he politely shows us what he is doing.
From Out-of-Doors in the Holy Land Impressions of Travel in Body and Spirit by Van Dyke, Henry
He's half started to bow his neck at Boggs, but they mollifies him.
From Faro Nell and Her Friends Wolfville Stories by Dunton, W. Herbert
This Plaister is efficacious in curing of all kinds of Wounds, Ulcers, Tumours, and Contusions; for it mollifies, digestes, and brings to Suppuration such Matter as ought to be carry'd off this way.
From The Compleat Surgeon or, the whole Art of Surgery explain'd in a most familiar Method. by Le Clerc, Charles Gabriel
He was not at all mollified by a problem with the GPS system that shows teams where all the cars are on track.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
The inequalities made many Scottish politicians pause, until their concerns were mollified by generous financial rewards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
“Nvidia will likely exceed earnings expectations but the question is whether investors will be mollified or not,” she added.
From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025
They were not, in the main, mollified by the answers she was giving.
From Slate ● Jan. 10, 2025
“Hmph,” I said, though secretly I was mollified.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
But if you can get on its wavelength, there’s a mollifying charm to Travolta’s debut.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
Bezos rejected claims that he declined an endorsement to Harris in hopes of mollifying Trump, although he acknowledged that his web of business interests would always present appearances of potential conflicts of interest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2024
It’s a great character moment for Danvers, who has been more comfortable than Navarro in mollifying the powers-that-be.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2024
What if Reykdal, a person of considerable smarts and energy, used those traits to rally teachers and parents, rather than mollifying legislators as more kids leave public education for private- and home-schooling?
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 17, 2023
“Don’t tell the world what we’re trying to do,” Jack whispered in a mollifying tone.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
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.
