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assuage Definition

as·suage (ə swāj, a-)

transitive verb -·suaged, -·suag·ing

  1. to lessen (pain, distress, etc.); allay
  2. to calm (passion, anger, etc.); pacify
  3. to satisfy or slake (thirst, appetite, etc.)

Etymology: ME aswagen < OFr assouagier < L ad-, to + suavis, sweet

assuage Related Forms
as·suage·ment noun
assuage Synonyms

assuage

v.

  1. To alleviate

    mitigate, lessen, soothe; see relieve 2.

  2. To satisfy

    appease, fill, surfeit; see satisfy 1, 3.

  3. To calm

    pacify, still, mollify; see quiet 1. See syn. study atrelieve.

assuage Usage Examples

Object

  • guilt: People often try to assuage the guilt of wrongdoing by doing right.
  • grief: It has helped, he says, to assuage the grief.
  • fear: No doubt an air of authenticity helped assuage the fears of subscribers worried about publicly associating themselves with fiction.
  • anger: Some theories of the atonement render Jesus little more than a whipping boy assuaging the furious anger of the Father.
  • feeling: Lee said he hoped the monument and the apology would assuage the bad feelings.
  • concern: To secure Moscow's participation in a military campaign against Baghdad, Washington should take limited steps to assuage Russian concerns.

Subject

  • fact: My doubts were in part assuaged by the fact that I had already started stronger doses of the same cognitive enhancement drugs.

Preposition: by

  • fact: My doubts were in part assuaged by the fact that I had already started stronger doses of the same cognitive enhancement drugs.

Modifying Another Word

  • not: The pain of the former is not assuaged by the pleasure of the latter.
  • n't: Even the mild grief at the loss of our most regular comedy figure wo n't assuage the extreme pleasure at his resignation.
  • somewhat: This action assuaged somewhat the still very strong imperialist current in the Dominion.
  • partially: He has partially assuaged the sense of insecurity developed by Margaret Thatcher.
  • partly: It spills over into helpless tears, which our lovemaking only partly assuages.
  • also: They will also assuage and engender the view that their former partner suffers from a number of moral and personal problems.