soothe means to restore to ease, comfort, or tranquility; relieve; calm; quiet; refresh. It carries an Arena rating of 1952, earned across 50 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, soothe ranks #247 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #493 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,365 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #2,193 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
soothe is pronounced /suːð/.
Why “soothe” is a great word
To gently calm, comfort, or relieve a person, feeling, or pain. From Middle English sothen ('to verify, prove'), from Old English sōþian ('to prove true'), from Proto-West Germanic *sanþōn, from Proto-Germanic *sanþōną ('to prove, certify'), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- ('to be'); the sense shifted from 'to verify as true' to 'to comfort by confirming or assuaging' in the late 17th century. Unlike 'assuage,' which specifically lessens the raw intensity of thirst, grief, or pain, or 'placate,' which appeases anger through concession, 'soothe' is a more general balm, applying to raw nerves, physical ache, or simple sorrow. It is the cool hand on a fevered brow, the rhythmic stroke of a brush through tangled hair, the warm weight of a blanket drawn over trembling shoulders—the quiet assertion, rooted in an ancient truth, that for this moment at least, things are as they should be.
Etymology
From Middle English sothen (“to verify, prove the validity of”), from Old English sōþian (“to verify, prove, confirm, bear witness to”), from Proto-West Germanic *sanþōn, from Proto-Germanic *sanþōną (“to prove, certify, acknowledge, testify”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”). Cognate with Danish sande (“to verify”), Swedish sanna (“to verify”), Icelandic sanna (“to verify”). See also sooth. Displaced Old English frēfran, ġefrēfran (“to comfort, console, soothe”), and partially displaced Old English stillan, ġestillan (“to calm, become calm, pacify, quieten”) (whence modern still). The semantic evolution of "to verify, prove the validity of" → "to comfort" (first attested in the late 17th century) comes from the notion of assuaging someone by supporting the truth of what they say
verb
- To restore to ease, comfort, or tranquility; relieve; calm; quiet; refresh.
- To allay; assuage; mitigate; soften.
- To smooth over; render less obnoxious.
- To calm or placate someone or some situation.
- To ease or relieve pain or suffering.e.g.“I am a cider drinker, I drinks it all of the day
I am a cider drinker, it soothes all me troubles away” — 1976, The Wurzels, I Am A Cider Drinker:
- To temporise by assent, concession, flattery, or cajolery.
- To bring comfort or relief.
- To keep in good humour; wheedle; cajole; flatter.
- To prove true; verify; confirm as true.
- To confirm the statements of; maintain the truthfulness of (a person); bear out.
- To assent to; yield to; humour by agreement or concession.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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