soothe

English

Etymology

From Middle English sothen (“to verify, prove the validity of”), from Old English sōþian (“to verify, prove, confirm, bear witness to”), from Proto-Germanic *sanþōną (“to prove, certify, acknowledge, testify”), from Proto-Indo-European *sont-, *sent- (“being, true”). Cognate with Danish sande (“to verify”), Swedish sanna (“to verify”), Icelandic sanna (“to verify”), Gothic [script?] (suthjan), [script?] (suthjōn, “to soothe”). See also sooth.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /suːð/
• Rhymes: -uːð

Verb

soothe (third-person singular simple present soothes, present participle soothing, simple past and past participle soothed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To prove true; verify; confirm as true.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To confirm the statements of; maintain the truthfulness of (a person); bear out.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To assent to; yield to; humour by agreement or concession.
4. (transitive) To keep in good humour; wheedle; cajole; flatter.
5. (transitive) To restore to ease, comfort, or tranquility; relieve; calm; quiet; refresh.
   • 2013, Daniel Taylor, Andros Townsend calms England's nerves in taming of Montenegro (in The Guardian, 11 October 2013)[1]

     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.

6. (transitive) To allay; assuage; mitigate; soften.
7. (transitive, rare) To smooth over; render less obnoxious.
8. (transitive) To calm or placate someone or some situation.
9. (transitive) To ease or relieve pain or suffering.
10. (intransitive) To temporise by assent, concession, flattery, or cajolery.
11. (intransitive) To bring comfort or relief.

Derived terms

• soothing

Translations

To calm or placate someone or some situation

• Catalan: calmar (ca)
• Czech: konejšit
• Finnish: tyynnyttää
• French: apaiser (fr)
• German: besänftigen (de), beruhigen (de)
• Italian: lenire (it)
• Latin: pācō

• Norwegian: berolige
• Portuguese: acalmar (pt)
• Romanian: alina (ro), domoli (ro), liniști (ro), potoli (ro)
• Russian: умиротворять (ru) impf (umirotvorjátʹ), умиротворить (ru) pf (umirotvorítʹ), успокаивать (ru) impf (uspokáivatʹ), успокоить (ru) pf (uspokóitʹ)
• Spanish: calmar (es)

To ease or relieve pain or suffering

• Finnish: lievittää (fi)
• French: apaiser (fr), soulager (fr)
• German: lindern
• Indonesian: melegakan (id)
• Maori: mamahu
• Polish: koić / ukoić, uspokajać / uspokoić

• Russian: облегчать (ru) impf (oblexčátʹ), облегчить (ru) pf (obléxčitʹ)
• Spanish: aliviar
• Swedish: lindra (sv)
• Ukrainian: полегшувати (polehshuvaty)

To bring comfort or relief

• Maori: mamahu
• Russian: облегчать (ru) impf (oblexčátʹ), облегчить (ru) pf (obléxčitʹ), ублажать (ru) impf (ublažátʹ)

• Spanish: aliviarse, descansar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: calmer, apaiser