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mollify

[mol-uh-fahy]
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verb (used with object), mol·li·fied, mol·li·fy·ing.
  1. to soften in feeling or temper, as a person; pacify; appease.
  2. to mitigate or reduce; soften: to mollify one's demands.
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Origin of mollify

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French mollifier < Late Latin mollificāre, equivalent to Latin molli(s) soft + -ficāre -fy
Related formsmol·li·fi·ca·tion, nounmol·li·fi·er, nounmol·li·fy·ing·ly, adverbmol·li·fi·a·ble, adjectivere·mol·li·fy, verb (used with object), re·mol·li·fied, re·mol·li·fy·ing.un·mol·li·fi·a·ble, adjectiveun·mol·li·fied, adjectiveun·mol·li·fy·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for mollification

Historical Examples

  • I doubt not it failed to contribute to a mollification of their painful forebodings.

    A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital

    John Beauchamp Jones

British Dictionary definitions for mollification

mollify

verb -fies, -fying or -fied (tr)
  1. to pacify; soothe
  2. to lessen the harshness or severity of
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Derived Formsmollifiable, adjectivemollification, nounmollifier, noun

Word Origin

C15: from Old French mollifier, via Late Latin, from Latin mollis soft + facere to make
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for mollification

n.

late 14c., from Old French mollificacion (Modern French mollification), from Medieval Latin mollificationem (nominative mollificatio), noun of action from past participle stem of mollificare (see mollify).

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mollify

v.

late 14c., "to soften (a substance)," from Old French mollifier or directly from Late Latin mollificare "make soft, mollify" from mollificus "softening," from Latin mollis "soft" (see melt (v.)) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Transferred sense of "soften in temper, appease, pacify" is recorded from early 15c. Related: Mollified; mollifying.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper