lenitive
Americanadjective
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softening, soothing, or mitigating, as medicines or applications.
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mildly laxative.
noun
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a lenitive medicine or application.
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a mild laxative.
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Archaic. anything that softens or soothes.
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
- lenitively adverb
- lenitiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of lenitive
From the Medieval Latin word lēnītīvus, dating back to 1535–45. See lenition, -ive
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.
In the first week of the war the London Times recommended, for blackout nights, a reperusal of such "lenitive" 19th Century giants as Trollope and Dickens.
From Time Magazine Archive
She was immediately blooded, took the oily Draughts three Times a-Day, the decoctum furfuris for common Drink, and so much lenitive Electuary as procured her a Stool next Day.
From An Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British military hospitals in Germany by Monro, Donald
As these gradually yielded to the lenitive power of time, I sought his conversation for the positive pleasure it afforded, and at last it became the chief source of my happiness.
From A Voyage to the Moon by Tucker, George
Keep the body open by two evacuations daily, if possible without medicine, if not take the size of a nutmeg of lenitive electuary occasionally, or five grains of rhubarb every night.
From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus
Yet see, Sir, the effect of that lenitive, though mixed with these bitter ingredients,—and how this rugged people can express themselves on a measure of concession.
From The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 02 (of 12) by Burke, Edmund
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.
