Word of the Day ·

S1O1O1T1H4E1

soothe

/suːð/

verb

What it means

  1. transitiveTo restore to ease, comfort, or tranquility; relieve; calm; quiet; refresh.

    Muſick has Charms to ſooth a ſavage Breaſt, To ſoften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.

    1697, [William] Congreve, The Mourning Bride, a Tragedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 1
    1 more example

    Yet Wayne Rooney scored at a good time, three minutes after the restart, to soothe any gathering nerves and the night can ultimately be chalked off as one of the finest occasions of Hodgson's 17 months in the job.

    2013 October 11, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian

    Synonyms: becalm, placate, allay, ameliorate, appease, assuage, becalm, gentle

  2. transitiveTo allay; assuage; mitigate; soften.
  3. raretransitiveTo smooth over; render less obnoxious.

In a sentence

Muſick has Charms to ſooth a ſavage Breaſt, To ſoften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.

1697, [William] Congreve, The Mourning Bride, a Tragedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 1

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁es-“to be”
  2. Proto-Germanic*sanþōną“to prove, certify, acknowledge, testify”
  3. Proto-West Germanic*sanþōn
  4. Old Englishsōþian“to verify, prove, confirm, bear witness to”
  5. Middle Englishsothen“to verify, prove the validity of”
  6. Englishsoothe

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.

Full entry for soothe →

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