sooth
- truth, reality, or fact.
- soothing, soft, or sweet.
- true or real.
Origin of sooth
soothe
- to tranquilize or calm, as a person or the feelings; relieve, comfort, or refresh: soothing someone's anger; to soothe someone with a hot drink.
- to mitigate, assuage, or allay, as pain, sorrow, or doubt: to soothe sunburned skin.
- to exert a soothing influence; bring tranquillity, calm, ease, or comfort.
Origin of soothe
Synonyms
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Antonyms
Related Words
refereemediatorointmentpotionsalvelotionsolaceconsolationpalliativepeacemakeralleviatorstabilizerpacifierpreparationemollientanalgesicunctiondressingunguentapplicationExamples from the Web for soother
Historical Examples
Be what he asks of you,—his comforter, his soother; be more,—his pride and his joy.
My Novel, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
He got through a vast amount of work, only soother of the nerves he knew.
The Forsyte Saga, CompleteJohn Galsworthy
I am the soother, the joy, the life, the happiness inexhaustible!
The Temptation of St. AntonyGustave Flaubert
The location of the seat of government was chosen as the soother.
Washington and the American Republic, Vol. 3.Benson J. Lossing
If Ryanne was without the soother, so much the worse for him.
The Carpet from BagdadHarold MacGrath
sooth
- truth or reality (esp in the phrase in sooth)
- true or real
- smooth
Word Origin
soothe
- (tr) to make calm or tranquil
- (tr) to relieve or assuage (pain, longing, etc)
- (intr) to bring tranquillity or relief
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for soother
sooth
n.
Old English soð "truth, justice, righteousness, rectitude; reality, certainty," noun use of soð (adj.) "true, genuine, real; just, righteous," originally *sonð-, from Proto-Germanic *santhaz (cf. Old Norse sannr, Old Saxon soth, Old High German sand "true," Gothic sunja "truth").
The group is related to Old English synn "sin" and Latin sontis "guilty" (truth is related to guilt via "being the one;" see sin (v.)), from PIE *es-ont- "being, existence," thus "real, true," from present participle of root *es-, the s-form of the verb "to be" (see be), preserved in Latin sunt "they are" and German sind. Archaic in English, it is the root of modern words for "true" in Swedish (sann) and Danish (sand). In common use until mid-17c., then obsolete until revived as an archaism early 19c. by Scott, etc. Used for Latin pro- in translating compounds into Old English, e.g. soðtacen "prodigy," soðfylgan "prosequi."
soothe
v.
Old English soðian "show to be true," from soð "true" (see sooth). Sense of "quiet, comfort, mollify" is first recorded 1690s, via notion of "to assuage one by asserting that what he says is true" (i.e. to be a yes-man), a sense attested from 1560s (and cf. Old English gesoð "a parasite, flatterer"). Meaning "reduce the intensity" (of a pain, etc.) is from 1711. Related: Soothed; soothing.