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assuage

 - 3 dictionary results

as⋅suage

  [uh-sweyj, uh-sweyzh]
Use assuage in a Sentence
–verb (used with object), -suaged, -suag⋅ing.
1. to make milder or less severe; relieve; ease; mitigate: to assuage one's grief; to assuage one's pain.
2. to appease; satisfy; allay; relieve: to assuage one's hunger.
3. to soothe, calm, or mollify: to assuage his fears; to assuage her anger.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME aswagen < OF asouagier < VL *assuāviāre, equiv. to L as- as- + -suāviāre, v. deriv. of L suāvis agreeable to the taste, pleasant (cf. suave; akin to sweet )

Related forms:
as⋅suage⋅ment, noun
as⋅suag⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1. alleviate, lessen.

Antonyms:
intensify.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To assuage
as·suage   (ə-swāj')   
tr.v.   as·suaged, as·suag·ing, as·suag·es

  1. To make (something burdensome or painful) less intense or severe: assuage her grief. See Synonyms at relieve.

  2. To satisfy or appease (hunger or thirst, for example).

  3. To pacify or calm: assuage their chronic insecurity.


[Middle English asswagen, from Old French assuagier, from Vulgar Latin *assuāviāre : Latin ad-, ad- + Latin suāvis, sweet, delightful; see swād- in Indo-European roots.]
as·suage'ment n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

assuage 
c.1300, from O.Fr. asouagier, from V.L. *adsuaviare, from L. ad- "to" + suavis "sweet, agreeable" (see sweet).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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