anodyne

comparative more anodyne · superlative most anodyne

1. medicineCapable of soothing or eliminating pain.First known use 16th c.

   The citrate is the most efficient as an alkali, but irritates some stomachs, the liquor the most anodyne, the acetate the most diuretic.

   1910, Edward L. Keyes, Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs, page 211

   1 more example

   Many a time has the vapor of ether been inhaled for the relief of oppressed lungs; many a time has the sought relief been thus obtained; and just so many times has the discovery of the wonderful anodyne properties of this gas, as affecting all bodily suffering, been brushed past and overlooked.

   1847 June 12, Littell's Living Age, volume 13, number 161, page 483

   Synonyms: analgesic, antalgesic, antipain, pain-relieving, painkilling

2. figurativelySoothing or relaxing.First known use 18th c.

   Classical music is rather anodyne.

3. broadlyNoncontentious, blandly agreeable, unlikely to cause offence or debate.First known use 20th c.

   Near-synonyms: harmless, neutral

   3 more examples

   It all became so routine, so anodyne, so dull.

   20 May 2003, The Guardian

   States typically like to stick to anodyne messages, like saving wildflowers or animals. But every so often a controversy crops up.

   2010 December 9, “Rattled”, in The Economist

   The Vatican supports the vision of an independent Palestine living in peace alongside Israel, and Francis on Saturday called for a “just solution” to the conflict – the sort of neutral, anodyne language he is expected to adhere to during the stay.

   2014 May 25, Crispian Balmer, “Pope Francis Poised To Arrive in West Bank”, in The Forward

   Synonyms: innocuous, bland, inoffensive, uncontentious, uncontroversial, unexceptionable, unprovocative, harmless

plural anodynes

1. medicineAny medicine or other agent that relieves pain.
2. figurativelyA source of relaxation or comfort.

   The air was heavy with the perfume of the flowers, and their beauty seemed to bring him an anodyne for his pain.

   1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter VII, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC

   2 more examples

   Nor do I mean to say that Virtue is not Virtue because it is never tempted to go astray; only that dulness is a much finer gift than we give it credit for being; and that some people are very lucky whom Nature has endowed with a good store of that great anodyne.

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 16, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

   So, with a sigh, because novels so often provide an anodyne and not an antidote, glide one into torpid slumbers instead of rousing one with a burning brand.

   1929, Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, page 79