soothing

Origin:
before 950; Middle English sothen to verify, Old English sōthian, equivalent to sōth sooth + -ian infinitive suffix; Modern English sense shift “to verify” > “to support (a person's statement)” > “to encourage” > “to calm”

Related forms

sooth·er, noun

self-soothed, adjective

un·soothed, adjective

Synonyms
1. See comfort, allay. 2. alleviate, appease, mollify.

Antonyms
1. upset, roil.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To soothing

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a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

soothe (suːð)

—vb
1.	(tr) to make calm or tranquil
2.	(tr) to relieve or assuage (pain, longing, etc)
3.	(intr) to bring tranquillity or relief

[C16 (in the sense: to mollify): from Old English sōthian to prove; related to Old Norse sanna to assert; see sooth]

'soother

—n

soothing (ˈsuːðɪŋ)

—*adj*
	having a calming, assuaging, or relieving effect

soothingly

—*adv*

soothingness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

soothe

O.E. soðian "show to be true," from soð "true" (see sooth). Sense of "quiet, comfort, mollify" is first recorded 1697, on notion of "to assuage one by asserting that what he says is true" (i.e. to be a yes-man), a sense attested from 1568.

Example sentences

But this time both sides wanted more than soothing rhetoric.

Plan on soothing the pain by knocking back a few extra beers before kickoff.

Bet hugging your horse is more soothing than hugging my fish.

It attracts more birds than still water alone, and its soothing sound track

transforms your space into a peaceful retreat.

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Matching Quote

"Crosby's fans talk about how "relaxed" he was, how "natural," how "casual and easygoing." By the time Presley began causing sensations, the entire country had become relaxed, casual and easygoing, and its younger people seemed to be tired of it, for Elvis's act was anything but soothing and scarcely what a parent of that placid age would have called "natural" for a young man. Elvis was unseemly, loud, gaudy, sexual—that gyrating pelvis!—in short, disturbing. He not only disturbed parents who thought music was a soothing by Crosby, but also reminded their young that they were full of the turmoil of youth and an appetite for excitement. At a time when the country had a population coming of age with no memory of troubled times, Presley spoke to a yearning for disturbance."

-Russell Baker