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:
From there, Cassidy moved to mollify his own fears.
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026
Maybe someone down at the petrol station, to which William keeps sneaking to mollify his insatiable chocolate addiction and where local people do unspeakable things with the gas pumps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
X in June sought to mollify the EU by adding a disclaimer to the checkmark.
From Barron's ● Nov. 27, 2025
Of any attempt to mollify Trump, he said "good luck with that".
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2025
A few weeks before Greenhouse, Bradbury had tried to mollify the willful physicist by creating a semiautonomous thermonuclear division at Los Alamos, giving Teller authority over 25 scientists.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
"It mollifies the entire course of postoperative pain."
From Time Magazine Archive
He mollifies a suspicious Senate subcommittee Did he or didn't he?
From Time Magazine Archive
My Madeline's most mirthful mood Much mollifies my mind's machine, My mournfulness's magnitude Melts—make me merry, Madeline!
From The Book of Humorous Verse by Carolyn Wells
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
For moisture mollifies, and both giues leaue to the roots to spread, and makes the earth yeeld sap and nourishment with plenty & facility.
From A New Orchard And Garden or, The best way for planting, grafting, and to make any ground good, for a rich Orchard: Particularly in the North and generally for the whole kingdome of England by William Lawson
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
“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
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
Neither move mollified Carter, who gave Bass until May to fix the broken system, vowing to become “your worst nightmare” should she fail.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2025
Ernest mollified Stone by blaming Time's editors for the slights.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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
That includes mollifying the person who made her vice president, thus vaulting Harris to top-tier status should she run again.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2025
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
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.
