emollient · adj — moisturizing. It carries an Arena rating of 1841, earned across 94 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, emollient ranks #1,315 of 17,165 for Most Beautiful Words, #2,154 of 17,180 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,404 of 17,188 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,990 of 17,187 for Most Malleable Words.
emollient is pronounced /ɪˈmɒl.ɪ.ənt/.
Why “emollient” is a great word
EMOLLIENT — [Adjective, Noun] A substance that softens and soothes the skin, or, by extension, something that mollifies or makes a situation more acceptable. From the Latin ēmollīre ("to make soft"), from ex- ("thoroughly") and mollis ("soft"). First recorded in English use in the 1640s. Unlike a "humectant," which draws moisture into tissue, or a "palliative," which relieves a grave symptom, an emollient works by gentle occlusion and filling—the shea butter melting into winter-raw knuckles, the diplomatic platitude murmured to defuse a quarrel, the forgiving light that rounds the edges of a stark landscape. It is a small, necessary fiction against the world's inherent abrasiveness.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From French émollient, from Latin emolliēns, present active participle of ēmolliō (“make soft”), from ex- + molliō, from mollis (“soft”). By surface analysis, e- + Latin moll- + -i- + -ent.
adj
- Moisturizing.
- Soothing or mollifying.
noun
- Something which softens or lubricates the skin; moisturizer.
- Anything soothing the mind, or that makes something more acceptable.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
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