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 have every reason to mollify the Hollywood crowd to extract full value from their merged empire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
No 10's attempts to mollify backbenchers will continue in the coming days, with the 37 Scottish Labour MPs getting particular close attention.
From BBC ● Feb. 8, 2026
X in June sought to mollify the EU by adding a disclaimer to the checkmark.
From Barron's ● Nov. 27, 2025
The fact that it was supposed to be temporary did not mollify the people who disliked it, chief among them the short-story writer Guy de Maupassant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2025
Pocock wrote back with a long, detailed technical explanation of his design and proposed a few minor modifications that he thought might mollify Ebright without compromising the integrity of the shell.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
"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' magnitude Melts—makes me merry, Madeline!
From English as She is Wrote Showing Curious Ways in which the English Language may be made to Convey Ideas or obscure them. by Anonymous
So, so; she mollifies apace—she's struck with my figure! this attitude has had its effect.
From The Duenna by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
To have a man so simple and so honourable to represent us in the darkness of primeval history, binds all the intervening centuries together, and mollifies all their monstrosities.
From Varied Types by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
“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
He ideally would like to bring Western nations along, yet they believe his hunger for peace outweighs his wish to ensure European leaders are mollified.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2025
They were not, in the main, mollified by the answers she was giving.
From Slate ● Jan. 10, 2025
“That’s the way I’ll mix it and grind it for our next rocket,” I told him, and he was mollified.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
But if you can get on its wavelength, there’s a mollifying charm to Travolta’s debut.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
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
“I never intended to exclude folks who were cooperating with us,” he said, striking a mollifying note.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 4, 2022
When the children had faded silently out of the kitchen, Lillian spoke to her husband in a mollifying, supplicating tone.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
