Quizzes & Games
Word of the Day
Video
New Words
My Favorites
View your list of saved words.
(You can log in using Facebook.)

assuage
About Our Definitions: All forms of a word (noun, verb, etc.) are now displayed on one page.

as·suage

transitive verb \ə-ˈswāj also -ˈswāzh or -ˈswäzh\

as·suagedas·suag·ing

: to lessen the intensity of (something that pains or distresses) : ease <unable to assuage their grief>

: pacify, quiet <vainly strove … to assuage an implacable foe — Edward Gibbon>

: to put an end to by satisfying : appease, quench <assuaging his thirst>

— as·suage·ment \-mənt\ noun

He couldn't assuage his guilt over the divorce.
<a mother cooing to her toddler and assuaging his fear of the dark>
Life contains sorrows that cannot be assuaged, and it is important to be honest in acknowledging this. —Jo McGowan, Commonweal, 5 May 2006
But for the second exam, my pretest diet included yogurt and ice cream (without pieces), which assuaged my hunger, and the cleansing was stimulated by a glass of salty liquid midafternoon. —Jane E. Brody, New York Times, 12 July 2005
Whatever arrangements such mothers willingly make for their children, whatever strategies they employ to relieve their guilt, whatever books they read to assuage their anxiety—all of that is their business, not mine. —Caitlin Flanagan, Atlantic, March 2004
As I've told Jody on numerous occasions, the best way for her to assuage my guilt is to hit it big in the Internet gold rush and then retire … —Matthew Miller, New Republic, 17 Jan. 2000
[+]more [-]hide