Meanings
present singular third person soothes · participle present soothing · participle past soothed · past soothed · alternative obsolete sooth
- 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 11 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 GuardianSynonyms: becalm, placate, allay, ameliorate, appease, assuage, becalm, gentle
- raretransitiveTo smooth over; render less obnoxious.
- intransitiveTo temporise by assent, concession, flattery, or cajolery.
- transitiveTo keep in good humour; wheedle; cajole; flatter.
Synonyms: jolly, lay it on thick, puff, brush up to, collogue, flatter, flatterize, glaver
- obsoletetransitiveTo assent to; yield to; humour by agreement or concession.
To be ſhort, a wretched and curſed generation they be; hypocrites, pretending friendſhip, but they can not skill of plaine dealing and franke ſpeech. Rich men they claw, ſooth up and flatter: the poore they contemne and despiſe.
1603, Plutarch, “Of the Nouriture and Education of Children”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 15Synonyms: comply, give way, accede, agree, allow, cave in, come around, come round
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo restore to ease, comfort, or tranquility; relieve; calm; quiet; refresh.
verbTo keep in good humour; wheedle; cajole; flatter.
verbTo assent to; yield to; humour by agreement or concession.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁es-“to be”
- Proto-Germanic*sanþōną“to prove, certify, acknowledge, testify”
- Proto-West Germanic*sanþōn
- Old Englishsōþian“to verify, prove, confirm, bear witness to”
- Middle Englishsothen“to verify, prove the validity of”
- 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.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic سَكَّنَ, هَدَّأَ
- سَكَّنَ (sakkana)to ease or relieve pain
- هَدَّأَ (haddaʔa)to calm or placate
- طَمْأَنَ (ṭamʔana)to calm or placate
Bulgarian утешавам, облекчавам
- утешавам (utešavam)to restore to ease
- облекчавам (oblekčavam)to ease or relieve pain
- смекчавам (smekčavam)to ease or relieve pain
- успокоявам (uspokojavam)to calm or placate
Catalan calmar
- calmarto calm or placate
Czech uklidnit, uklidňovat
- uklidnitto restore to ease
- uklidňovatto restore to ease
- ukonejšitto restore to ease
- konejšitto restore to ease
- zklidnitto restore to ease
- zklidňovatto restore to ease
- ulevitto ease or relieve pain
- ulevovatto ease or relieve pain
- ukonejšitto ease or relieve pain
- konejšitto ease or relieve pain
- utěšitto ease or relieve pain
- utěšovatto ease or relieve pain
Esperanto trankviligi
- trankviligito restore to ease
Finnish lepyttää, lepytellä
- lepyttääto restore to ease
- lepytelläto restore to ease
- lievittääto ease or relieve pain
- tyynnyttääto calm or placate
French apaiser, soulager
- apaiserto restore to ease
- soulagerto ease or relieve pain
- apaiserto calm or placate
- calmerto calm or placate
German beruhigen, Wogen glätten
- beruhigento restore to ease
- Wogen glättento restore to ease
- mildernto restore to ease
- besänftigento restore to ease
- gütig stimmento restore to ease
- lindernto ease or relieve pain
- mildernto ease or relieve pain
- tröstento ease or relieve pain
- Erleichterung bringento bring comfort or relief
- lindernto bring comfort or relief
- etwas versüßento bring comfort or relief
- besänftigento calm or placate
Indonesian melegakan
- melegakanto ease or relieve pain
Italian calmare, lenire
- calmareto restore to ease
- lenireto ease or relieve pain
- alleviareto ease or relieve pain
- mitigareto ease or relieve pain
- placareto calm or placate
Japanese なだめる
- なだめるto calm or placate
Latin lēniō, lēniō
- lēniōto ease or relieve pain
- lēniōto bring comfort or relief
- pācōto calm or placate
Māori whakanene, mamahu
- whakaneneto restore to ease
- mamahuto restore to ease
- mamahuto ease or relieve pain
- mamahuto bring comfort or relief
- whakaneneto calm or placate
- mamahuto calm or placate
Norwegian berolige
- beroligeto calm or placate
Polish łagodzić, koić
- łagodzićto restore to ease
- koićto ease or relieve pain
- ukoićto ease or relieve pain
- uspokajaćto ease or relieve pain
- uspokoićto ease or relieve pain
Portuguese aliviar, aliviar
- aliviarto ease or relieve pain
- aliviarto bring comfort or relief
- acalmarto calm or placate
Romanian alina, domoli
- alinato calm or placate
- domolito calm or placate
- liniștito calm or placate
- potolito calm or placate
Russian облегча́ть, обле́гчить
- облегча́ть (oblexčátʹ)to ease or relieve pain
- обле́гчить (obléxčitʹ)to ease or relieve pain
- облегча́ть (oblexčátʹ)to bring comfort or relief
- обле́гчить (obléxčitʹ)to bring comfort or relief
- ублажа́ть (ublažátʹ)to bring comfort or relief
- умиротворя́ть (umirotvorjátʹ)to calm or placate
- умиротвори́ть (umirotvorítʹ)to calm or placate
- успока́ивать (uspokáivatʹ)to calm or placate
- успоко́ить (uspokóitʹ)to calm or placate
Slovak lahodiť
- lahodiťto restore to ease
Spanish desenconar, serenar
- desenconarto ease or relieve pain
- serenarto calm or placate
- aserenarto calm or placate
Swedish lindra
- lindrato ease or relieve pain
Turkish dindirmek, dindirmek
- dindirmekto ease or relieve pain
- dindirmekto bring comfort or relief
- sakinleştirmekto calm or placate
- yatıştırmakto calm or placate
- dindirmekto calm or placate
Ukrainian полегшувати
- полегшувати (polehšuvaty)to ease or relieve pain
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with soothe
All rhymes →Cite this entry
soothe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soothe
“soothe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soothe. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “soothe,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soothe.
Source: soothe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.