dulcify

American  

[duhl-suh-fahy] / ˈdʌl səˌfaɪ /

verb (used with object)

dulcified, dulcifying

1. to make more agreeable; mollify; appease.

2. to sweeten.

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dulcify British  

/ ˈdʌlsɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. rare to make pleasant or agreeable

2. a rare word for sweeten

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Other Word Forms

• dulcification noun

Etymology

Origin of dulcify

1590–1600; < Late Latin dulcificāre, with -fy for -ficāre

Explanation

To make good lemonade, you can't just mix lemon juice and water; you have to dulcify it with the perfect amount of sugar to balance the bitterness and make it sweeter. The word dulcify comes from the Latin word dulcis, meaning "sweet." When you dulcify something, you make it sweeter or more pleasant. While sugar can dulcify a tart glass of lemonade, kind words can dulcify a tense conversation, turning frustration into friendliness. For example, a coach's encouragement can dulcify the sting of a losing game, helping the players feel more positive. Similarly, a gentle lullaby can dulcify a cranky baby. It's a sophisticated way to describe softening or sweetening something.

Example Sentences

Come, let us begin the cure; and, through the exhilarating sweetness of harmony, let us dulcify, lenify, and pacify the acrimony of his spirits, which, I see, are ready to be inflamed.

From Monsieur De Pourceaugnac by Wall, Charles Heron

Your lato, azoch, zernich, chibrit, heautarit," and another asks:—   "Can you sublime and dulcify? calcine?

From Halleck's New English Literature by Halleck, Reuben Post

The savage of America, like the savage of the South Sea islands, has learned to dulcify the fecula, by pressing and separating it from its juice.

From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 2 by Humboldt, Alexander von

And there was, to dulcify for her the bath of this evening, the yet sharper contrast with the plight she had just come home in, sopped, shivering, clung to by her clothes.

From Zuleika Dobson, or, an Oxford love story by Beerbohm, Max, Sir