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:
To mollify furious traders, South Korean regulators suspended new approvals of leveraged single-stock funds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 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
Then, driven more by thirst than by any desire to return home, she gathered a bundle of wood—to mollify Aunt Chipo—and trudged back to the stream.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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
Umb, This mollifies, But y'are so fickle: and will again denie this, There being no witness by.
From The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher Volume 2 of 10: Introduction to the Elder Brother by John Fletcher
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 Charles Gabriel Le Clerc
He's half started to bow his neck at Boggs, but they mollifies him.
From Faro Nell and Her Friends Wolfville Stories by W. Herbert Dunton
Any misgivings Stewart had about taking on the Picard role in "Star Trek" were mollified by the thought it would be a one-season failure.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026
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
Investors took fright that the deficit will spiral out of control and were mollified somewhat Friday morning when Britain’s Treasury leaked that rosier economic forecasts might leave her with a smaller budget gap.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
They were not, in the main, mollified by the answers she was giving.
From Slate ● Jan. 10, 2025
I was sensible of a growing revolt of the spirit that suffused the whole of my frame, which would no longer be stifled or mollified.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
This is evidently quite appealing, or mollifying, to many audiences.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
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
Chamberlin was startled to see that Holmes’s false warmth seemed to be mollifying the creditors.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
