salve
1 Americannoun
-
a medicinal ointment for healing or relieving wounds and sores.
-
anything that soothes, mollifies, or relieves.
verb (used with object)
verb (used with or without object)
interjection
noun
-
an ointment for wounds, sores, etc
-
anything that heals or soothes
verb
-
to apply salve to (a wound, sore, etc)
-
to soothe, comfort, or appease
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of salve1
First recorded before 900; Middle English noun salve, salwe, salf(e), Old English sealf, salf; cognate with German Salbe “ointment, salve,” Sanskrit sarpís “melted butter, fat”; verb derivative of the noun
Origin of salve2
First recorded in 1700–10; back formation from salvage
Origin of salve3
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin salvē! literally, “be in good health!”; cf. salute
Explanation
A salve is something that soothes. You can use an ointment as a salve for an itchy rash, or maybe your kind words can act as a salve to comfort a heartsick friend. In some parts of the world, people pronounce salve the way it's spelled, but in the U.S. the correct pronunciation has a silent L. You can use this word for things that make people feel better — not just ointment: "A hot cup of tea is a salve for me." And you can also use it as a verb: "The nurse will salve your wounds now." Salve comes from a Proto-Indo-European root that means "fat" or "butter."
Vocabulary lists containing salve
Much Ado About Nothing
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The Diary of a Young Girl
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Fallen Angels
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
But these interventions appear to be no salve for investors.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
Cheaper money is always a salve for the economy.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 23, 2025
The heroism by a Muslim immigrant has been a salve to intercommunal wounds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
Brazil is also a major source of beef exports to the U.S., a salve at a time when meat prices are driving inflation.
From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2025
When I went in, I found a healing salve and a mug of pain-numbing tea.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
For topical preparations, Extracts are incorporated into many skin products: soaps, creams, ointments, salves, and lotions with various concentrations of calendula.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 7, 2024
There are few better salves for the pain of a cross-town drive than the prepared food sections of Koreatown grocery stores.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2023
It is believed to have antiseptic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory qualities and is used in toothpaste, mouthwash and skin salves.
From BBC ● Jan. 4, 2023
But pre-Amazon merger, you weren’t also dodging results for Amazon Prime TV shows, toys, salves and anything else Amazon thinks a searcher of Spider-Man comics might want to buy.
From The Verge ● May 30, 2022
Always when he used to come in with his family to see Daisy he would have himself examined and take home medicine and salves for the whole group of them.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
Any spectators feeling short-changed would have been salved by Hatton v Flint, a high-energy and bruising encounter.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2024
After Gore’s defeat, Klain salved his wounds in classic Washington fashion: by making tons of cash.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 18, 2021
The area would obviously be free territory if it ever joined the American Union, so northern Democrats salved their discomfort over Texas with the belligerent chant “fifty-four forty or fight!”
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
But he salved his disappointment by asking the coach whether there was a way he could contribute and was appointed team videographer.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 2, 2016
His right hand, though it had been salved and bound, was burned on palm and fingers.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
The mayor also organized a community street dinner that brought together dozens of Jewish and Arab community leaders, again salving the anger.
From New York Times ● Jul. 23, 2022
Presidents who take office after periods of searing national trauma often reach for messages of healing and unity, but actually salving the sores of political and social division takes more than rhetoric.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 25, 2021
In the Seven Years’ War, Britain and Spain had taken France’s American empire, so American independence could even the score by salving French pride and injuring British commerce.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
Maybe when dad left it was so painful that I ended up salving the wound with memories, to protect myself from the first time in my life I realized that dad might not come back.
From Salon ● May 21, 2017
It was not my intention to hurt or humiliate her; the irony of it was that the plan I conceived had as its purpose the salving of Granny’s frustrated feelings toward me.
From "Black Boy" 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.
