Asswaging

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of calming or easing a negative feeling or emotion in oneself or others
2. To mitigate or alleviate intensity of discomfort or pain through various means
3. Engaging in practices that reduce distress or hardship, leading to a sense of relief

Etymology: "Asswaging" is simply the present participle and gerund of "asswage," so its history belongs to that verb. "Asswage" comes from the Old French "assouagier," itself built from "a-" (to) and "soulagier," meaning to relieve or ease, which in turn derives from Latin "solacium," comfort or consolation. The same Latin root gave English "solace," and the two words are close relatives that took slightly different routes into the language. The verb's core idea has always been relief: making something painful, violent or intense become gentler. Early English uses applied it to physical suffering and to the force of storms or passions, and only later did it settle into the calmer sense of soothing a troubled mind. Its relative "assuage" is the more common modern spelling, and the -ing forms follow regular patterns from the verb.

Synonyms: alleviating, soothing, calming, mitigating, pacifying

Antonyms: intensifying, exacerbating, aggravating, worsening, inflaming