Synonyms for soothe
Synonyms by meaning
Verb
1. Pacify — to restore to ease, comfort, or tranquility; relieve; calm; quiet; refresh
pacify, assuage, mollify, calm, allay, appease, quell, lull, relieve, placate, soften, alleviate, mitigate, calm down, quieten UK IE, still, ease, lessen, gentle formal, deaden, quiet, abate
2. Flatter — to keep in good humour; wheedle; cajole; flatter
Other
caress, humor US, humour UK, assent, astipulate
Definitions
- v. 1
To restore to ease, comfort, or tranquility; relieve; calm; quiet; refresh.
- v. 2
To ease or relieve pain or suffering.
- v. 3
To keep in good humour; wheedle; cajole; flatter.
- v. 4
To assent to; yield to; humour by agreement or concession.
Related words
- Word family
- soother soothing soothsayer
Forms
- Past participle
- soothed
e.g. soothed → pacified, assuaged, mollified, calmed…
Choose the right word
But, in strictness, to allay is to lay to rest, quiet or soothe that which is excited; to alleviate, on the other hand, is to lighten a burden.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- calm Take a seat in the armchair and calm down a while.
- pacify Tom was very aggressive again. They had to pacify him.
- assuage This medicine will assuage the pain.
- mollify Mary tried to mollify Tom by singing him a lullaby.
- puff A puff of wind came and blew Curdken's hat far away.
By length
- 4 letters
- calm1, ease1, puff1, lull1
- 5 letters
- still1, quiet2, humor2, jolly2, quell1, allay2, abate2, gloze
- 6 letters
- stroke1, gentle2, comply2, humour2, soften2, lessen2, solace2, assent2, caress2, pacify3, deaden2
- 7 letters
- comfort2, console2, relieve2, flatter2, appease2, placate2, assuage2, mollify3, quieten
- 8 letters
- mitigate3
- 9 letters
- alleviate4
- 10 letters
- astipulate
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (quiet2 = 2 syllables).