SOOTHING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does soothing mean? 

• SOOTHING (adjective)
  The adjective SOOTHING has 2 senses:

1. affording physical relief

2. freeing from fear and anxiety

  Familiarity information: SOOTHING used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOOTHING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Affording physical relief

Context example:

a soothing ointment for her sunburn

Similar:

comfortable; comfy (providing or experiencing physical well-being or relief ('comfy' is informal))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Freeing from fear and anxiety

Synonyms:

assuasive; soothing

Similar:

reassuring (restoring confidence and relieving anxiety)

 Context examples 

She was the weaker then, and Beth tried to comfort and sustain her, with her arms about her and the soothing words she whispered in her ear.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“No, no,” said Mr. Peggotty, soothing her sorrows.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The very winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

There came a gentle flow of soothing explanation from the butler.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Let me find some soothing simples and lay them on the weal to draw the sting.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mrs. Dashwood would have interrupted her instantly with soothing tenderness, had not Elinor, who really wished to hear her sister's unbiased opinion, by an eager sign, engaged her silence.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

You will excuse me, young sir, said he, in the suavest, most soothing of voices, but am I right in supposing that this is the house of Lieutenant Stone?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Quite so, madam,” said Holmes in his soothing way.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

‘My dear young lady! my dear young lady!’—you cannot think how caressing and soothing his manner was—‘and what has frightened you, my dear young lady?’

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I watched them with a sense of soothing, and a sort of calm stole over me.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)