Dictionary

assuage en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /əˈsweɪd͡ʒ/
• /əˈswɑʒ/ (US, regional)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English aswagen, from Old French asuagier (“to appease, to calm”), from Vulgar Latin *assuāviō (“to sweeten, to butter up, to calm”), derived from Latin ad- + suāvis (“sweet”) + -iō.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To lessen the intensity of, to mitigate or relieve (hunger, emotion, pain, etc.).
   • 1864 November 21, Abraham Lincoln (signed) or John Hay, letter to Mrs. Bixby in Boston I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost.
   • Refreshing winds the summer's heat assuage. 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
   • the fount at which the panting mind assuages her thirst of knowledge 1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza CX:
   • to assuage the sorrows of a desolate old man 1796, Edmund Burke, A Letter from the Right Honourable Edmund Burke to a Noble Lord, on the Attacks Made upon Him and His Pension, […], London: […] J. Owen, […], and F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC:
   • Jaurès's ambition was not to intensify but to assuage conflicts, antagonisms, and enmity of every kind: the fundamental ideas of Marxism, he believed, did not signify a breach of historical continuity but appealed to the deepest moral instincts of mankind. 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 116:
2. (transitive) To pacify or soothe (someone).
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To calm down, become less violent (of passion, hunger etc.); to subside, to abate.

Forms

Deriveds

unassuaged · unassuaging · assuageable · assuager · assuagement · assuagingly

Translations (81)

nl troosten (mitigate, relieve) · he שִׁכֵּךְ (pacify) · ota قیرمق (mitigate, relieve) · cmn 平定 (pacify) · bg смекчавам (mitigate, relieve) · pl uspokoić (pacify) · cmn 平息 (mitigate, relieve) · cs uklidnit (pacify) · oc calmar (mitigate, relieve) · es satisfacer (mitigate, relieve) · fr calmer (pacify) · sco mease (mitigate, relieve) · ja 和らげる (mitigate, relieve) · fi lievittää (mitigate, relieve) · cmn 解渴 (mitigate, relieve) · sco dill (mitigate, relieve) · oc calmar (pacify) · cmn 撫慰 /抚慰 (pacify) · tr yatıştırmak (mitigate, relieve) · sco cowshin (pacify) · cs utišit (mitigate, relieve) · pl złagodzić (mitigate, relieve) · de besänftigen (pacify) · es sosegar (pacify) · de beschwichtigen (pacify) · sco suage (mitigate, relieve) · tr sakinleştirmek (pacify) · es calmar (mitigate, relieve) · es apaciguar (pacify) · bg уталожвам (pacify) · oc abaucar (mitigate, relieve) · cmn 安撫 /安抚 (pacify) · cmn 減輕 /减轻 (mitigate, relieve) · uk заспокоювати (pacify) · cmn 安慰 (pacify) · ru успоко́ить (pacify) · cmn 緩解 /缓解 (mitigate, relieve) · fr assouvir (mitigate, relieve) · uk вгамовувати (pacify) · oc apasimar (mitigate, relieve) · bg облекчавам (mitigate, relieve) · de lindern (mitigate, relieve) · fi rauhoitella (pacify) · bg успокоявам (pacify) · pl łagodzić (mitigate, relieve) · tr dindirmek (mitigate, relieve) · fr soulager (mitigate, relieve) · cs utišit (pacify) · oc apasimar (pacify) · es calmar (pacify) · uk пом'якшувати (mitigate, relieve) · ca alleujar (mitigate, relieve) · pl uspokajać (pacify) · de mildern (mitigate, relieve) · es aliviar (mitigate, relieve) · sco mease (pacify) · ru уменьша́ть (mitigate, relieve) · pt acalmar (pacify) · ca assuavir (mitigate, relieve) · la lēniō (mitigate, relieve) · de abschwächen (mitigate, relieve) · pt mitigar (mitigate, relieve) · ro alina (mitigate, relieve) · sv lindra (mitigate, relieve) · fr apaiser (pacify) · hu csillapít (mitigate, relieve) · la sēdō (pacify) · oc mitigar (mitigate, relieve) · cmn 緩和 /缓和 (mitigate, relieve) · tr yatıştırmak (pacify) · cs zmírnit (mitigate, relieve) · cmn 充飢 /充饥 (mitigate, relieve) · cmn 使平靜 /使平静 (pacify) · fi rauhoittaa (pacify) · es mitigar (mitigate, relieve) · ru успока́ивать (pacify) · bg успокоявам (mitigate, relieve) · fr apaiser (mitigate, relieve) · nl verzachten (mitigate, relieve) · sv lugna (pacify) · ru смягча́ть (mitigate, relieve)