anodyne

1 of 2

adjective

an·​o·​dyne ˈa-nə-ˌdīn How to pronounce anodyne (audio)
1
: serving to alleviate pain
the anodyne properties of certain drugs
2
: not likely to offend or arouse tensions : innocuous
… his speech contained a single anodyne reference to the man who preceded him.John F. Burns

anodyne

2 of 2

noun

1
: something that soothes, calms, or comforts
The sweetness of sojourn there … was an anodyne for the sorrows the pilgrims had endured …Amy Kelly
2
: a drug that allays pain

Did you know?

Anodyne came to English via Latin from Greek anṓdynos (meaning "free from pain, causing no pain, harmless, allaying pain"), and it has been used as both an adjective and a noun ("something that soothes, calms, or comforts") since the 16th century. It has sometimes been used of things that dull or lull the senses and render painful experiences less so. British statesman Edmund Burke used it this way, for example, in 1790 when he referred to flattery as an "anodyne draft of oblivion" that renders one (in this particular case, the deposed King Louis XVI) forgetful of the flatterer's true feelings. Nowadays, in addition to describing things that dull pain, anodyne can also refer to that which doesn't cause discomfort in the first place.

Examples of anodyne in a Sentence

Adjective the otherwise anodyne comments sounded quite inflammatory when taken out of context Noun the dentist prescribed an anodyne after the root canal as an anodyne for the stress and superficiality of the modern world, there's nothing better than reading a literary classic of substance and insight
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
That might seem like a kind of anodyne title in a book about work, since most people who work do work full time. Dominic Pino, National Review, 27 Feb. 2024 Kimmel, once an anodyne bro, now cheerfully torments the far-right conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell and keeps tabs on the antics of the Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 13 Feb. 2024 The Lafayette Hotel & Club The Lafayette’s exuberant, eclectic decor provides a bold, colorful riposte to anodyne hotel design. Jeff Chu, Travel + Leisure, 25 Jan. 2024 Cosentino had recently got sober, and the record’s lyrics emphasized a kind of anodyne positivity. Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 31 July 2023 At the start, those exterior shots of the house at 704 Hauser Street seem so anodyne. Vulture, 6 Dec. 2023 Sure, Grok’s rivals may be annoyingly anodyne and prone to playing it safe, but there’s a reason for that. David Meyer, Fortune Europe, 6 Nov. 2023 Airbnbs aren’t usually the anodyne non-space of a hotel room, and you can be thrust into these private realms, given a glimpse of another life, another person’s reality. Deborah Treisman, The New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2023 Warming For the ultimate call to action, release an anodyne statement that falls short of overwhelming praise for Taylor Swift and attribute it to the forces behind climate change. Ivan Ehlers, The New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2023
Noun
The vision is an anodyne of rage. Sasha Frere-Jones, Harper’s Magazine , 4 Nov. 2022 Peterson pauses, running his hand along the blue aluminum-anodyne actuator machined to match the length of Daniel’s right thigh. John Brant, Popular Mechanics, 27 Apr. 2020 This is the confluence that defines the spectacle: statistics, like photographs, have a kind of moral authority, one whose meaning may repel us but one that nevertheless encourages certainty, and thus anodyne. Shannon Pufahl, The New York Review of Books, 21 Apr. 2020 Ten years ago, lazy auto writers used the Toyota Camry as shorthand for anodyne transportation, a car for people who think of cars as appliances. Ezra Dyer, Car and Driver, 13 Mar. 2020 The result of all that rulemaking and political sensitivity is the anodyne Covid-19. Adam Rogers, Wired, 11 Feb. 2020 To yield to the soft tyranny of transgender pronouns is to pretend that gender dysphoria is an anodyne lifestyle on which societal legitimacy should be conferred, not a psychological malady requiring compassion and psychological treatment. Josh Hammer, National Review, 27 Jan. 2020 As head of state, the British monarch is expected to remain publicly neutral on political matters, and the queen’s addresses tend to be broad, anodyne and even a little opaque. New York Times, 24 Dec. 2019 Santa Clausification’—the softening of a public figure’s profile into something more anodyne and broadly acceptable. Osita Nwanevu, The New Republic, 25 Sep. 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'anodyne.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

borrowed from Latin anōdynus "allaying pain," borrowed from Greek anṓdynos "free from pain, causing no pain, harmless, allaying pain," from an- an- + -ōdynos, adjective derivative (with compositional lengthening) of odýnē "pain," of uncertain origin

Note: In earlier etymological dictionaries (Frisk, Chantraine), odýnē is taken be a derivative, with a heteroclitic suffix *-ur-/*-un-, of the verbal base *h1ed- "eat" (see eat entry 1), with the assumed change of e > o by vowel assimilation before a following -u-; allegedly comparable are Armenian erkn "labor pains, grief," Old Irish idu "pain, pangs of childbirth." More recently a different hypothesis proposes that the base of odýnē is a verbal root *h3ed- "bite, sting," seen perhaps in Lithuanian úodas "gnat" (< *h3od-o-). (See R. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2010.)

Noun

borrowed from Latin anōdynum "something allaying pain," borrowed from Greek anṓdynon "freedom from pain," noun derivative of anṓdynos "free from pain, causing no pain, harmless, allaying pain" — more at anodyne entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

1543, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

circa 1550, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of anodyne was in 1543

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Cite this Entry

“Anodyne.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anodyne. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Medical Definition

anodyne

1 of 2 adjective
an·​o·​dyne ˈan-ə-ˌdīn How to pronounce anodyne (audio)
: serving to ease pain

anodyne

2 of 2 noun
: a drug that allays pain
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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