Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To calm in temper or feeling; soothe. See Synonyms at pacify.
- v. To lessen in intensity; temper.
- v. To reduce the rigidity of; soften.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To soften; make soft or tender.
- To soothe; mitigate; appease; pacify; calm or quiet.
- To make less harsh; qualify; tone down; moderate; abate.
- To induce or incline by making tender.
- Synonyms and To mitigate, ease, moderate.
- To soothe, quiet.
- To become soft or tender.
Wiktionary
- v. To ease a burden; make less painful; to comfort
- v. To appease, pacify, gain the good will of.
- v. To soften; to make tender
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To soften; to make tender; to reduce the hardness, harshness, or asperity of; to qualify.
- v. To assuage, as pain or irritation, to appease, as excited feeling or passion; to pacify; to calm.
WordNet 3.0
- v. make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else; moderate.
- v. make less rigid or softer
- v. cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of
Etymologies
- From Latin molliō ("soften, calm"), from mollis ("soft"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English mollifien, from Old French mollifier, from Late Latin mollificāre : Latin mollis, soft; see mel-1 in Indo-European roots + -ficāre, -fy. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“If this place is any indication, there is nothing that will "mollify" his critics.”
“As All Things Digital notes, that was one of the concessions that Epix (which is a budding cable channel in addition to a Web property) had to make to "mollify" its cable partners.”
“The fact that she's a "straight shooter" on global warming may be related to the fact that she couldn't "mollify" people about Thiomersal.”
“The fact that she's a "straight shooter" on global warming may be related to the fact that she couldn't "mollify" people about”
“Obama memo from Gibbs and Simmons says Palin appointment done to "mollify" right wingers.”
“I had no illusions that this compromise would mollify the competing camps.”
“I don't think that is accurate, but something that the people around them say to themselves to mollify their own rage at the narcissist, e.g., "Oh, they only act that way, because they lack self-esteem.”
The Huffington Post: Mark Goulston, M.D.: Rage -- Coming Soon From a Narcissist Near You
“House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, was forced to delay a vote 24 hours Thursday and add a stronger balanced budget amendment proposal to mollify conservatives.”
“Hardly the sort of offer that would mollify customers, upset or not.”
“CAIRO—CAIRO—Leaders of the opposition to Egypt's military-led transitional government threatened on Sunday to call out greater numbers of protesters, as a set of conciliatory promises proposed by the interim prime minister a day earlier failed to mollify activists.”
The Wall Street Journal: Egypt Activists Dismiss Regime's Conciliatory Measures
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mollify’.
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allover
reintegrate, spight, surveillant, harmonize, Colophon, workplace, bigoted, unsighted, bridgework, salutation, voltmeter, octane and 159 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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gre
municipal, whit, dissembler, berate, liberally, embellish, dissimilitude, histrionics, flamboyance, bombastic, bovine, calumny and 142 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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wallace
Remington, Windsor, prorector, wen, aver, mottle, seltzer, tepee, lapidary, effete, sotto, presbyopia and 355 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Funny, yuck, or funny yuck
galactorrhea, trope, salacious, ignominious, bucolic, vivacious, mollify, titillate, castigate, panjandrum, zany
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passive
words of inaction
tepid, languid, stagnant, inertia, effete, mired, soporific, reticent, taciturn, mollify, nebbish, milquetoast and 13 more...
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fav1
ostensibly, fait accompli, edification, machination, vamp, abstruse, ebullient, tantamount, reductio, asymptotic, ad hominem, syllogism and 15 more...
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M
letters starting with m
mitigate, maudlin, magnanimity, magnanimity, malleable, maverick, maverick, mendacious, metamorphosis, meticulous, misanthrope, mollify and 2 more...
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Need to Know!
elicit, educe, refute, cogency, churlish, martinet, veritable, polyglot, dissemble, histrionics, prevarication, verbiage and 166 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for mollify.
lweber5@scf.edu Dictionary.com, He tried to mollify his critics with an apology.
Nov 5, 2010
kewpid eh? Jan 8, 2008
koldewyse Molly. Jan 8, 2008