lenitive
softening, soothing, or mitigating, as medicines or applications.
mildly laxative.
a lenitive medicine or application.
a mild laxative.
Archaic. anything that softens or soothes.
Origin of lenitive
1Other words from lenitive
- len·i·tive·ly, adverb
- len·i·tive·ness, noun
Words Nearby lenitive
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use lenitive in a sentence
And in the hospital of the mind, the lenitive and fostering measures have a still larger share in the work of a moral restoration.
Playing is sometimes an excellent lenitive to calm the mind, and to smother the ardent fire of love.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete | Jacques Casanova de SeingaltNot in a state of lenitive pain, sanative, and in some degree encouraging, but in a condition of incipient mortification.
Perlycross | R. D. Blackmore
British Dictionary definitions for lenitive
/ (ˈlɛnɪtɪv) /
soothing or alleviating pain or distress
obsolete a lenitive drug
Origin of lenitive
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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