assuage
Americanverb (used with object)
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assuages,
present (3rd person singular)
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assuaged,
past participle, past
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assuaging
present participle
verb
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to soothe, moderate, or relieve (grief, pain, etc)
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to give relief to (thirst, appetite, etc); satisfy
-
to pacify; calm
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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assuagesimple
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assuagessimple
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have assuagedperfect
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has assuagedperfect
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am assuagingprogressive
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are assuagingprogressive
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is assuagingprogressive
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have been assuagingperfect progressive
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has been assuagingperfect progressive
Past
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assuagedsimple
-
had assuagedperfect
-
was assuagingprogressive
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were assuagingprogressive
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had been assuagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of assuage
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English aswagen, from Old French asouagier, from unrecorded Vulgar Latin assuāviāre, equivalent to Latin as- as- + -suāviāre, verbal derivative of Latin suāvis “agreeable to the taste, pleasant” ( cf. suave; akin to sweet )
Explanation
If you assuage an unpleasant feeling, you make it go away. Assuaging your hunger by eating a bag of marshmallows may cause you other unpleasant feelings. The most common things that we assuage are fears, concerns, guilt, grief, anxiety, and anger. That makes a lot of sense — these are all things we seek relief from. The word comes from Old French assouagier, from the Latin root suavis, "sweet" — think of adding a bit of honey to something unpleasant. A word with a similar meaning is mollify.
Vocabulary lists containing assuage
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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The Giver
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But their statements did not assuage Caproni, who chastised them for refusing to admit their crimes.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
Netflix stock dropped more than five percent Tuesday afternoon after its quarterly earnings release failed to assuage investor concerns about a slowdown in viewer engagement and revenue growth.
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026
Brink’s said last week it had decided to sell its NoteMachine and TestLink U.K. businesses in a bid to assuage the CMA’s concerns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Agreements on editorial boards or ombudsmen are typically made to assuage regulatory concerns over a change in media ownership.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Harry felt that nothing but action would assuage his feelings of guilt and grief and that he ought to set out on his mission to find and destroy Horcruxes as soon as possible.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
Tuesday's move assuages what had been growing frustration at the lack of a big picture vision from the Labour government.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2026
Squirreling the creature home in her backpack, she assuages its hissing-and-squawking terror with some simple nursing, then decides the right thing to do is reunite her new friend with its family.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2025
A sort of penance, where by reading all the nasty comments under every post she assuages some of her guilt, as a zealot whips himself bloody to atone for sin?
From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2024
Having Castillo atop the rotation certainly assuages many of those feelings.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 5, 2023
Objection 1: It would seem that not every pleasure assuages every pain or sorrow.
From Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) From the Complete American Edition by Saint Thomas Aquinas
In July, Microsoft’s stock surged 16% after earnings assuaged concerns that investments in data centers and chips would outpace its ability to generate cash.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
Immediately, my worries were assuaged — there were, in fact, women there.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
In an instant, Urbina’s fears had been assuaged.
From Salon ● May 2, 2026
That was partly assuaged when the cast, made up of up-and-coming talent rather than established names, was announced.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
Her fears were not fully assuaged until she became pregnant early in the new year and delivered a healthy boy, John Eric Lawrence, in mid-October.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Given the stock’s retreat over recent months, stronger-than-expected results, amid low expectations, “could go a long way in assuaging several of these investor concerns.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
The goal was to provide enterprise customers more powerful tools while assuaging the White House’s concerns that they could be weaponized by bad actors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
The presence of the Ivorian army in the remote and long-neglected northeast, hundreds of kilometres from the economic capital Abidjan, has succeeded in assuaging locals' concerns -- to an extent.
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2025
Universities, far from assuaging that constant fear, should fight to make it a reality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2025
During the first months of their marriage, he called Celia every night, his gentle voice assuaging her.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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