From Middle English mollifien, from Late Latin mollificō, from Latin mollis.

• IPA: /ˈmɒlɪfaɪ/

mollify (mollifies, present participle mollifying; simple past and past participle mollified)

1. To ease a burden, particularly worry; make less painful; to comfort.
2. To appease (anger), pacify, gain the good will of.
   • 1867, Charles Dickens, chapter 2, in Oliver Twist:

     Although this invitation was accompanied with a curtsey that might have softened the heart of a church-warden, it by no means mollified the beadle.

   • 1916, L. Frank Baum, chapter 5, in Rinkitink in Oz:

     The angry goat was quite mollified by the respectful tone in which he was addressed.

3. To soften; to make tender
   • 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book III, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 113:

     "Nor is it any more difficulty for him to mollifie what is hard, then it is to harden what is so soft and fluid as the Aire."

• (to ease a burden) assuage, calm, comfort, mitigate, soothe
• (to appease) appease, conciliate, pacify, placate, propitiate, satisfy
• (to soften) soften, soften up, tenderize, temper, anneal, deharden, distemper
• See also Thesaurus:calm

• emollient
• mollification

• French: apaiser, calmer
• German: mildern
• Russian: смягча́ть
• Spanish: aliviar

• French: apaiser
• German: beruhigen
• Portuguese: apaziguar, acalmar
• Russian: успока́ивать
• Spanish: calmar, apaciguar