mollify
verb/ˈmɒlɪfaɪ/
Etymology From Middle English mollifien, from Late Latin mollificō, from Latin mollis (“soft”). By surface analysis, Latin moll- + -ify.
1
To ease a burden, particularly to ease a worry; make less painful; to comfort.
- mollify someone’s anger
- attempt to mollify
4 more examples
- mollify criticism
- Her calm explanation helped mollify their concerns.
- Hovv impetrable hee vvas in mollyfying the adamantineſt tiranny of mankinde, […]1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 21:
- All that charity can do where injustice exists is here and there to somewhat mollify the effects of injustice.1893, Henry George, The Condition of Labor: An Open Letter to Pope Leo XIII, page 104:
2
To appease anger, pacify, gain the good will of.
- He tried to mollify the angry customer.
- Although this invitation was accompanied with a curtsey that might have softened the heart of a church-warden, it by no means mollified the beadle.1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter II, in Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
4 more examples
- The angry goat was quite mollified by the respectful tone in which he was addressed.1916, L. Frank Baum, chapter 5, in Rinkitink in Oz:
- There were no honeyed words from Dr. Beeching to mollify Scottish feeling on rail service closures during his one-day visit in May.1964 July, “News and Comment: Dr. B. beards Scots in their lair”, in Modern Railways, page 15:
- But these answers did not mollify Grassley. Specifically, he objected to Abedin’s becoming an S.G.E., because he believed she provided no irreplaceable expertise and therefore her designation as one had violated Congress’s intent when it created the program, in 1962.2016 January 31, “Is Huma Abedin Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon or Her Next Big Problem?”, in Vanity Fair, archived from the original on 05 Feb 2016, retrieved 21 Jan 2016:
- Earlier this year, amid the challenge to the public charge rule arising from the Covid-19 virus, Chief Justice John Roberts took the lead against immigrant interests yet mollified liberals poised to dissent publicly, CNN’s Joan Biskupic reported this week.2020 July 29, Priscilla Alvarez, “Judge blocks administration from implementing ‘public charge’ rule for immigrants during pandemic”, in CNN:
3
To soften; to make tender.
- Nor is it any more difficulty for him to mollifie what is hard, then it is to harden what is so soft and fluid as the Aire.1653, Henry More, An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC:
- By thy kindness thou wilt melt and mollify his spirit towards thee, as hardest metals are melted by coals of fire […]1724, William Burkitt, Expository Notes, with Practical Observations on the New Testament,, page 102:
- Synonyms
- assuage, calm, comfort, mitigate, soothe, appease, conciliate, pacify, placate, propitiate, satisfy, soften, soften up, tenderize, temper, deharden
- Derived terms
- mollifiable, mollifiedly, mollifier, mollifyingly, unmollified, unmollifying
- Related terms
- emollient, mollification