mollify
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɒlɪfaɪ/
Forms: form: mollifies
form: mollifying
form: mollified
form: mollified
form: mollifie
Etymology: From Middle English mollifien, from Late Latin mollificō, from Latin mollis (“soft”).
Senses: examples: text: All that charity can do where injustice exists is here and there to somewhat mollify the effects of injustice.
ref: 1893, Henry George, The Condition of Labor: An Open Letter to Pope Leo XIII,, page 104:
text: The draft Charter School Handbook issued in November 1994 sought to mollify concerns over teacher quality, if not ATA membership, by requiring teacher certification.
ref: 1997, A Government Reinvented: A Study of Alberta's Deficit Elimination Program,, page 408:
glosses: To ease a burden, particularly to ease a worry; make less painful; to comfort.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1867, Charles Dickens, chapter 2, in Oliver Twist:
text: The angry goat was quite mollified by the respectful tone in which he was addressed.
ref: 1916, L. Frank Baum, chapter 5, in Rinkitink in Oz:
text: There were no honeyed words from Dr. Beeching to mollify Scottish feeling on rail service closures during his one-day visit in May.
ref: 1964 July, “News and Comment: Dr. B. beards Scots in their lair”, in Modern Railways, page 15:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 2020 July 29, Priscilla Alvarez, “Judge blocks administration from implementing ‘public charge’ rule for immigrants during pandemic”, in CNN:
glosses: To appease anger, pacify, gain the good will of.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book III, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 113
text: By thy kindness thou wilt melt and mollify his spirit towards thee, as hardest metals are melted by coals of fire …
ref: 1724, William Burkitt, Expository Notes, with Practical Observations on the New Testament,, page 102:
glosses: To soften; to make tender.
Synonyms: sense: to ease a burden
word: assuage
sense: to ease a burden
word: calm
sense: to ease a burden
word: comfort
sense: to ease a burden
word: mitigate
sense: to ease a burden
word: soothe
sense: to appease
word: appease
sense: to appease
word: conciliate
sense: to appease
word: pacify
sense: to appease
word: placate
sense: to appease
word: propitiate
sense: to appease
word: satisfy
sense: to soften
word: soften
sense: to soften
word: soften up
sense: to soften
word: tenderize
sense: to soften
word: temper
sense: to soften
word: deharden
Derived terms: mollifiable
mollifiedly
mollifier
mollifyingly
unmollified
unmollifying
Related terms: emollient
mollification