Adjacent Words

Mollify definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MOL'LIFY, v.t. [L. mollio.] To soften; to make soft or tender. Isaiah 1.
1. To assuage, as pain or irritation.
2. To appease; to pacify; to calm or quiet.
3. To qualify; to reduce in harshness or asperity.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of; "She managed to mollify the angry customer" [syn: pacify, lenify, conciliate, assuage, appease, mollify, placate, gentle, gruntle]
2: make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else; moderate; "she tempered her criticism" [syn: temper, season, mollify]
3: make less rigid or softer

Merriam Webster's

verb (-fied; -fying) Etymology: Middle English mollifien, from Middle French mollifier, from Late Latin mollificare, from Latin mollis soft; akin to Greek amaldynein to soften, Sanskrit m?du soft, and probably to Greek malakos soft, amblys dull, Old English meltan to melt Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. to soothe in temper or disposition ; appease <mollified the staff with a raise> 2. to reduce the rigidity of ; soften 3. to reduce in intensity ; assuage, temper intransitive verb archaic soften, relent Synonyms: see pacify • mollification noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. (-ies, -ied) 1 appease, pacify. 2 reduce the severity of; soften. Derivatives: mollification n. mollifier n. Etymology: ME f. F mollifier or L mollificare f. mollis soft

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mollify Mol"li*fy, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mollified; p. pr. & vb. n. Mollifying.] [F. mollifier, L. mollificare; mollis soft + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See Enmollient, Moil, v. t., and -fy.] 1. To soften; to make tender; to reduce the hardness, harshness, or asperity of; to qualify; as, to mollify the ground. With sweet science mollified their stubborn hearts. --Spenser. 2. To assuage, as pain or irritation, to appease, as excited feeling or passion; to pacify; to calm.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(mollifies, mollifying, mollified) If you mollify someone, you do or say something to make them less upset or angry. (FORMAL) The investigation was undertaken primarily to mollify pressure groups. = placate VERB: V n

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mol'-i-fi (from rakhakh, "to be soft"): "To make soft," used in modern English only figuratively, as "His anger was mollified." English Versions of the Bible, however, uses the word literally in its two occurrences: Isa 1:6, "wounds, and bruises .... neither bound up, neither mollified with oil"; The Wisdom of Solomon 16:12, "mollifying plaister." Neither occurrence of the word is changed by the Revised Version (British and American).

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Soften, make soft. 2. Appease, pacify, compose, soothe, tranquillize, calm, quiet. 3. Assuage, mitigate, moderate, ease, allay, abate, temper, attemper, relieve, lessen, dull, blunt. 4. Qualify, tone down, moderate.

Moby Thesaurus

abate, allay, alleviate, anesthetize, appease, assuage, benumb, calm, calm down, compose, conciliate, cool, cradle, cushion, deaden, deaden the pain, decrease, defuse, diminish, dulcify, dull, ease, ease matters, even out, fluff, foment, gentle, give relief, hush, knead, laxate, lay, lay the dust, lessen, lighten, limber, limber up, loosen, lull, mash, massage, mellow, milden, mitigate, numb, pacify, pad, palliate, placate, plump, poultice, pour balm into, pour balm on, pour oil on, propitiate, pulp, quell, quiet, reduce, relax, relieve, rest, rock, rock to sleep, salve, shake up, slacken, slake, smash, smooth, smooth down, smooth over, smoothen, soften, soften up, soothe, squash, stabilize, steady, still, stupe, subdue, supple, sweeten, temper, tenderize, tone down, tranquilize, tune down