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What is "assuage"

Crossword clues for assuage

assuage
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
assuage
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
assuage sb’s guiltformal (= make someone feel less guilty)
▪ She died before I got there, and there was nothing I could do to assuage my guilt and regret.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
guilt
▪ Above all, affirmative action assuages white guilt.
▪ Ill health removed the pleasures of dissipation for him, and there was nothing to assuage his guilt and regret.
▪ Or assuage the guilt for abandoning that traditional ideal.
▪ This itself suggests that such findings assuage some sense of guilt.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Debra tried to assuage my fears.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Ha face was pale, her eyes dark-rimmed, and this assuaged some of my pain at the nun's silly chatter.
▪ His presence alone would be assuaging to her.
▪ Its escapism and conservatism assuaged the threats of the Cold War world outside.
▪ My physical hunger could be quite quickly assuaged, my mental starvation was a different matter.
▪ The decision to look outside the bank for a chief executive is likely to assuage some critics of Barclays in the City.
▪ This itself suggests that such findings assuage some sense of guilt.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Assuage

Assuage \As*suage"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Assuaged; p. pr. & vb. n. Assuaging.] [OE. asuagen, aswagen, OF. asoagier, asuagier, fr. assouagier, fr. L. ad + suavis sweet. See Sweet.] To soften, in a figurative sense; to allay, mitigate, ease, or lessen, as heat, pain, or grief; to appease or pacify, as passion or tumult; to satisfy, as appetite or desire.

Refreshing winds the summer's heat assuage.
--Addison.

To assuage the sorrows of a desolate old man
--Burke.

The fount at which the panting mind assuages Her thirst of knowledge.
--Byron.

Syn: To alleviate; mitigate; appease; soothe; calm; tranquilize; relieve. See Alleviate.

Assuage

Assuage \As*suage"\, v. i. To abate or subside. [Archaic] ``The waters assuaged.''
--Gen. vii. 1.

The plague being come to a crisis, its fury began to assuage.
--De Foe.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
assuage

c.1300, from Anglo-French assuager, Old French assoagier "soften, moderate, alleviate, calm, soothe, pacify," from Vulgar Latin *adsuaviare, from Latin ad- "to" (see ad-) + suavis "sweet, agreeable" (see sweet (adj.)). For sound development in French, compare deluge from Latin diluvium, abridge from abbreviare. Related: Assuaged; assuaging.

Wiktionary
assuage

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To lessen the intensity of, to mitigate or relieve (hunger, emotion, pain etc.). 2 (context transitive English) To pacify or soothe (someone). 3 (context intransitive obsolete English) To calm down, become less violent (of passion, hunger etc.); to subside, to abate.

WordNet
assuage

  1. v. cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of; "She managed to mollify the angry customer" [syn: pacify, lenify, conciliate, appease, mollify, placate, gentle, gruntle]

  2. satisfy (thirst); "The cold water quenched his thirst" [syn: quench, slake, allay]

  3. provide physical relief, as from pain; "This pill will relieve your headaches" [syn: relieve, alleviate, palliate]

Usage examples of "assuage".

He drew in his breath, then saw the defiance in her green eyes and lashed out in anger to assuage his guilt.

Colonel Cathcart was helpless to assess exactly how much ground he had gained or lost with his goddam skeet-shooting range and wished that Colonel Korn were in his office right then to evaluate the entire episode for him still one more time and assuage his fears.

All the pain it had taken years to assuage roared back, leaving her reeling.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and the lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

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, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

I will allow you to inject chemical or toxic substances into the atmosphere if that will assuage your doubts, General Chagalla.

I have longings too, and am as able to assuage your needs as Faisal--also I have the advantage of being here, while he is many miles away.

They behave like life mates, though they display no sexual characteristics -- but like all the others, they refuse to have physical contact with me, so I cannot assuage my curiosity.

Richard once again considered fucking her, simply to assuage the pain in his shaft, but decided against it.

And she had coolly refused to allow him to assuage so much as a twinge of his guilt.

At the time, she had believed he pursued her merely to assuage some affront to his pride.

This time, he could not assuage his guilt by telling himself he was trying to marry her for her own good, and because she had no better option.

Francesca adored her for it, for trying, but she suspected the only thing that would assuage her pain was time.

Naked, they sat on the unused bed and fed one another until one kind of hunger was temporarily satisfied and they reached once again to assuage the other.

To think how sure he had been the old priest could assuage his nightmares.