Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Capable of easing pain or discomfort.
- noun A lenitive medicine.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Assuaging; palliating.
- noun A medicine or an application that has the quality of easing pain; anything which softens or mitigates.
- noun Anything which tends to allay passion or excitement; a palliative.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Having the quality of softening or mitigating, as pain or acrimony; assuasive; emollient.
- noun A medicine or application that has the quality of easing pain or protecting from the action of irritants.
- noun A mild purgative; a laxative.
- noun That which softens or mitigates; that which tends to allay passion, excitement, or pain; a palliative.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Analgesic , able to reduce pain or suffering. - adjective of a person
Mild ;gentle . - noun An
analgesic or other source of relief from pain
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun remedy that eases pain and discomfort
- adjective moderating pain or sorrow by making it easier to bear
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word lenitive.
Examples
-
Antony as to Cæsar; the easy Claudius allowed himself to be governed by Agrippina; easy applied to Claudius is only a lenitive, the proper expression is weak.
-
Wherefore the word X+S+D+, following may be taken adverbially, as a lenitive of that severity which this word importeth: "Let him smite me;" but
The Sermons of John Owen 1616-1683 1968
-
Had he at the same time given me a tea-spoon, it would not have been so improper; for the poison might have been made up as a lenitive electuary.
The Book of Three Hundred Anecdotes Historical, Literary, and Humorous—A New Selection Various
-
The young victim of the wisdom of Solomon was boarded with the parish minister, in whose kindness he found a lenitive for the scholastic discipline he underwent.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 121, November, 1867 Various
-
After that, it will be convenient to prepare the body by some Julep or Apozeme, or to give some lenitive medicine to free the first region of the body from excrements.
Spadacrene Anglica The English Spa Fountain Edmund Deane
-
And in the hospital of the mind, the lenitive and fostering measures have a still larger share in the work of a moral restoration.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 358, August 1845 Various
-
It is religion alone which is of universal application, both as a stimulant and a lenitive, throughout the varied heritage which falls to the lot of man.
The Canadian Elocutionist Anna Kelsey Howard
-
There is one sweet lenitive at least for evils, which Nature holds out to us: so I took it kindly at her hands, and fell asleep; and the first word which roused me was Amiens.
-
` ` The loss of one we tenderly love, as it is one of the most bitter and biting evils which attend human life, so it wants the lenitive which palliates and softens every other calamity; I mean that great reliever, hope.
-
There is one sweet lenitive at least for evils, which Nature holds out to us: so I took it kindly at her hands, and fell asleep; and the first word which roused me was Amiens. —
jeffazi commented on the word lenitive
alleviating pain or harshness; soothing.
November 20, 2007
yarb commented on the word lenitive
The drift of the conversation was, as you may perceive, very much in the nature of a lenitive to my stomach...
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 10 ch. 12
October 10, 2008