Assuage

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈsweɪdÊ’/
• Hyphenation: as + suage
• Rhymes: -eɪdÊ’

Alternative forms

• asswage obsolete

Origin

Middle English aswagen, from Old French asuagier ("to appease, to calm"), from Vulgar Latin assuaviō, derived from ad- + suavis ("sweet") + -ō.

Full definition of assuage

Verb

1. (transitive) To lessen the intensity of, to mitigate or relieve (hunger, emotion, pain etc.).
• AddisonRefreshing winds the summer's heat assuage.
• Burketo assuage the sorrows of a desolate old man
• Byronthe fount at which the panting mind assuages
  her thirst of knowledge
• 1864 November 21, Abraham Lincoln (signed) or John Hay, letter to Mrs. Bixby in BostonI pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost.
2. (transitive) To pacify or soothe (someone).
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To calm down, become less violent (of passion, hunger etc.); to subside, to abate.

Derived terms

• assuagement
• assuager

Anagrams

• sausage