assuage
Americanverb (used with object)
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
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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
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had assuagedperfect
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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:
Given how strong both Nvidia and Broadcom expect AI growth to be in the next few years, Li said the recent announcements “may help to assuage supply concerns” for the companies.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
That could assuage ECB rate setters who fear the energy shock since the start of the Iran war could lead to more persistent second-round inflationary effects, such as through increased wage demands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
But that statement has done little to assuage the rumours, with supporters even interrupting a June city council meeting in American Fork City to accuse the police of misconduct.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
In a move to bolster its business offerings and assuage investor concerns about AI making some software offerings obsolete, Salesforce said it had agreed to acquire Fin, formerly known as Intercom.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
The memories swirled, silver white and strange, and without hesitating, with a feeling of reckless abandonment, as though this would assuage his torturing grief, Harry dived.
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
What she notices about pizza is that pizza “is like a smiling face: It assuages the fear of complexity by showing everything on its surface.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2024
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
But time assuages heart-wounds, as well as those of the flesh.
From Toasts and Forms of Public Address for Those Who Wish to Say the Right Thing in the Right Way by Pittenger, William
“He assuaged our concerns, and we moved on,” Gerald said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
That hasn’t assuaged concerns among some that a dot-com-style bubble may be building, especially given the sharp run-up.
From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026
In an instant, Urbina’s fears had been assuaged.
From Salon ● May 2, 2026
When Jared Snow goes to the hospital, he’s usually in serious pain, which he hopes will be assuaged soon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2026
Yet they were always a little hungry, not starving, but with an emptiness inside them that was never quite assuaged.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
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
Earlier this week, the U.S. promised tankers protection through the Persian Gulf, if necessary, assuaging some of the market’s concerns about the effects of a Hormuz chokehold.
From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026
"A sincere apology would acknowledge that grievance and, in my view, would go some way to assuaging the sense of injustice," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2024
During the first months of their marriage, he called Celia every night, his gentle voice assuaging her.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
