soothe

American  

[sooth] / suð /

verb (used with object)

soothed, soothing

1. to tranquilize or calm (a person or their emotions); relieve, comfort, or refresh.

   soothing someone's anger;

   to soothe someone with a hot drink.

   Antonyms:

   roil, upset

2. to mitigate, assuage, or allay, as pain, sorrow, or doubt.

   to soothe sunburned skin.

   Synonyms:

   mollify, appease, alleviate

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verb (used without object)

soothed, soothing

1. to exert a calming influence; bring tranquility, ease, or comfort.

   a soft-spoken poem that soothes like a lullaby.

soothe British  

/ suːð /

verb

1. (tr) to make calm or tranquil

2. (tr) to relieve or assuage (pain, longing, etc)

3. (intr) to bring tranquillity or relief

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Related Words

See comfort, allay.

Other Word Forms

• self-soothed adjective
• soother noun
• unsoothed adjective

Etymology

Origin of soothe

First recorded before 950; Middle English sothen “to bear witness, confirm, verify,” Old English sōthian “to prove true”; the Modern English sense shift “to verify” becomes “to support (a person's statement),” then “to encourage,” and finally “to calm”; sooth

Compare meaning

How does soothe compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• sooth vs. soothe

Example Sentences

He tried to soothe Mother’s complaints about the house’s strange sounds.

From Literature

To soothe concerns about obstructed pavements, councils are now installing parking bays directly onto streets, permanently embedding the schemes into the architecture of cities.

From BBC

Quickly, Opal picked up Archie and rocked and soothed him, which soothed the sleeping miller as well.

From Literature

I’ve never been anywhere near a sunlit designer kitchen in the Hamptons, but I still found it all oddly soothing.

From Salon

“Even when you don’t believe in rituals,” the author tells us, “they are soothing.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• allay
• alleviate
• appease
• assuage
• cool
• mitigate
• mollify
• pacify
• relieve
• soften