assuage

American  

[uh-sweyj, uh-sweyzh] / əˈsweɪdʒ, əˈsweɪʒ /

verb (used with object)

assuaged, assuaging

1. to make milder or less severe; alleviate; ease; mitigate.

   to assuage one's grief;

   to assuage one's pain.

   Synonyms:

   relieve, lessen, diminish, allay

2. to appease; satisfy; sate.

   to assuage one's hunger.

3. to soothe, calm, or mollify.

   to assuage his fears;

   to assuage her anger.

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assuage British  

/ əˈsweɪdʒ, əˈsweɪsɪv /

verb

1. to soothe, moderate, or relieve (grief, pain, etc)

2. to give relief to (thirst, appetite, etc); satisfy

3. to pacify; calm

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• assuager
  noun
• unassuaging
  adjective
• assuagement
  noun
• assuasive
  adjective

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.

Example Sentences

He walked back the comments on Wednesday in a memo to bank employees, who turned out to be valuable enough that he needed to assuage their feelings.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026

The earnings report seemed to assuage investors’ concerns after a slow start to the year.

From Barron's • May 6, 2026

In Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” Roy M. Cohn, trying to assuage an angry client he can’t get off the phone, offers theater tickets to a show he knows that this annoying rube will like.

From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026

Yet the strong outturn wasn’t enough to assuage investors’ worries.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026

He was an old-timer and apparently had thought of a way to assuage his own irritating feelings of loss of control.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

Related Words

• allay
• alleviate
• appease
• lessen
• mitigate
• mollify
• pacify
• placate
• quench
• sate
• satisfy
• soften
• temper