assuage

[ uh-sweyj, uh-sweyzh ]
See synonyms for: assuageassuagingassuagement on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),as·suaged, as·suag·ing.
  1. to make milder or less severe; alleviate; ease; mitigate: to assuage one's grief;to assuage one's pain.

  2. to appease; satisfy; sate: to assuage one's hunger.

  1. to soothe, calm, or mollify: to assuage his fears;to assuage her anger.

Origin of assuage

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English aswagen, from Old French asouagier, from unrecorded Vulgar Latin assuāviāre, equivalent to Latin as- as- + -suāviāre, verbal derivative of Latin suāvis “agreeable to the taste, pleasant” (cf. suave; akin to sweet)

Other words for assuage

Opposites for assuage

Other words from assuage

  • as·suage·ment, noun
  • as·suag·er, noun
  • un·as·suag·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use assuage in a sentence

  • But it will also be because of the verbal assuaging of his conscience.

    The Fall of India’s Conscience | Tunku Varadarajan | November 25, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • These two fellows have been successful, for they are assuaging the pangs of hunger by smoking their odds and ends.

    London's Underworld | Thomas Holmes
  • What malevolent power forced him to be the cause of this sorrow and yet forbade him the privilege of assuaging it?

    The Spell | William Dana Orcutt
  • He went from sufferer to sufferer; moistening the lips, assuaging the agony of the body, and striving to save the soul.

    The House of Walderne | A. D. Crake
  • His will was rendered indomitable by the splendid hope of assuaging human pain.

    The Whole Armour of God | John Henry Jowett
  • I succeeded in assuaging her grief and we confined ourselves to writing denials to our friends in America.

    Nat Goodwin's Book | Nat C. Goodwin

British Dictionary definitions for assuage

assuage

/ (əˈsweɪdʒ) /


verb(tr)
  1. to soothe, moderate, or relieve (grief, pain, etc)

  2. to give relief to (thirst, appetite, etc); satisfy

  1. to pacify; calm

Origin of assuage

1
C14: from Old French assouagier, from Vulgar Latin assuāviāre (unattested) to sweeten, from Latin suāvis pleasant; see suave

Derived forms of assuage

  • assuagement, noun
  • assuager, noun
  • assuasive (əˈsweɪsɪv), adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012