Assuage Meaning
/əˈsweɪd͡ʒ/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo make an unpleasant feeling less intense; to satisfy or relieve.
verbTo lessen the intensity of, to mitigate or relieve (hunger, emotion, pain, etc.).
Sentence Examples
The mayor's apology did little to assuage public anger.
This medicine will assuage the pain.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The doctor gave her medicine to ____ the severe pain after the surgery.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Nothing could ____ her grief after the loss.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English aswagen, from Old French asuagier (“to appease, to calm”), from Vulgar Latin *assuāviō (“to sweeten, to butter up, to calm”), derived from Latin ad- + suāvis (“sweet”) + -iō.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Refreshing winds the summer's heat assuage."
— 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
"to assuage the sorrows of a desolate old man"
— 1796, Edmund Burke, A Letter from the Right Honourable Edmund Burke to a Noble Lord, on the Attacks Made upon Him and His Pension, […], London: […] J. Owen, […], and F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC:
"the fount at which the panting mind assuages
her thirst of knowledge"
— 1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza CX:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The doctor gave her medicine to ____ the severe pain after the surgery.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Nothing could ____ her grief after the loss.