Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To soothe in time of affliction or distress.
  • transitive verb To ease physically; relieve.
  • noun A condition or feeling of pleasurable physical ease or relief from pain or stress.
  • noun A condition of well-being, contentment, and security.
  • noun Solace or consolation in time of sorrow or distress.
  • noun Help; assistance.
  • noun Something providing ease, convenience, or security.
  • noun A person or thing that brings consolation or mental ease.
  • noun Chiefly Southern & Lower Northern US A quilted bedcover; a comforter.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Strength; support; assistance; countenance; encouragement: now only a legal use: as, an accessory affords aid or comfort to a felon.
  • noun Relief in affliction, sorrow, or trouble of any kind; support; solace; consolation: as, to bring comfort to the afflicted.
  • noun A state of tranquil or moderate enjoyment, resulting from the satisfaction of bodily wants and freedom from care or anxiety; a feeling or state of well-being, satisfaction, or content.
  • noun That which gives or produces the feeling of welfare and satisfaction; that which furnishes moderate enjoyment or content.
  • noun Same as comfortable.
  • noun Synonyms Comfort, Consolation, Solace, relief, succor, ease, help. Comfort has a range of meaning not shared by the others, approaching that of pleasure, but of the quiet, durable, satisfying, heart-felt sort, meeting the needs most felt; as contrasted with consolation, it ordinarily applies to smaller or less known griefs, and is more positive and tender, and less formal. As contrasted with solace, comfort and consolation may or may not proceed from a person, while solace is got from things. Comfort may be merely physical; consolation and solace are spiritual.
  • To give or add strength to; strengthen; fortify; invigorate; corroborate.
  • To soothe when in grief or trouble; bring solace or consolation to; console; cheer; solace.
  • To relieve, assist, harbor, or encourage: in law, used especially of the conduct of an accessory to a crime after the fact.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To make strong; to invigorate; to fortify; to corroborate.
  • transitive verb obsolete To assist or help; to aid.
  • transitive verb To impart strength and hope to; to encourage; to relieve; to console; to cheer.
  • noun Obs. except in the phrase “aid and comfort.” See 5 below. Assistance; relief; support.
  • noun Encouragement; solace; consolation in trouble; also, that which affords consolation.
  • noun A state of quiet enjoyment; freedom from pain, want, or anxiety; also, whatever contributes to such a condition.
  • noun United States A wadded bedquilt; a comfortable.
  • noun (Law) Unlawful support, countenance, or encouragement.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Contentment, ease.
  • noun A consolation; something relieving suffering or worry.
  • noun A cause of relief or satisfaction.
  • verb transitive : To provide comfort to or relieve suffering.
  • verb To make the physical circumstances comfortable.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a feeling of freedom from worry or disappointment
  • noun the act of consoling; giving relief in affliction
  • verb lessen pain or discomfort; alleviate
  • noun a freedom from financial difficulty that promotes a comfortable state
  • noun assistance, such as that provided to an enemy or to a known criminal
  • noun satisfaction or physical well-being provided by a person or thing
  • verb give moral or emotional strength to
  • noun a state of being relaxed and feeling no pain
  • noun bedding made of two layers of cloth filled with stuffing and stitched together

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English comforten, from Old French conforter, to strengthen, from Late Latin cōnfortāre : Latin com-, intensive pref.; see com– + Latin fortis, strong; see bhergh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French conforter, from Late Latin confortāre, present active infinitive of confortō ("strengthen greatly"), itself from Latin con- ("together") + fortis ("strong").

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Examples

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  • I do this to Artie in my stories when something bad happens to Jim.

    February 11, 2013