Tranquillise

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To cause someone or something to become calm, relaxed, or free from disturbance
2. To bring about a state of quietness or serenity in a person or environment
3. To induce calmness or soothe agitation in an individual or situation

Etymology: "Tranquillise" is simply the British spelling of "tranquilize," and the two share a history: the verb was formed by adding the suffix "-ize" to "tranquil," so the base word came first and the verb followed. The adjective "tranquil" was taken into English from Latin "tranquillus," meaning calm or quiet, and the verb's direct source is the French "tranquiliser," which English adopted and shaped around that adjective. The word's most useful clue is its ending. The "-ize" (or "-ise") suffix, carried over through French from Greek, turns a quality into an action, so "tranquillise" literally means to make something tranquil. That is why it describes both calming a person and quieting a place: the verb works on whatever is being brought into a calm state. The British "-ise" spelling and the American "-ize" spelling are the same word, differing only in convention.

Synonyms: calm, soothe, pacify, alleviate, quiet

Antonyms: agitate, disturb, excite