Crossword Dictionary
mollify
temper, season, mollify - v
make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else; moderate; "she tempered her criticism"
synonyms
appease, assuage, conciliate, disarm, gentle, pacify, placate, propitiate
in a sentence
He tried to mollify his critics with an apology.
All attempts to mollify the extremists have failed.
The landlord fixed the heat, but the tenants still were not mollified.
In response, American leaders have made significant efforts to mollify them.
etymology
late 14c., mollifien, "to soften (a substance)," from Old French mollifier or directly from Late Latin mollificare "make soft, mollify" from mollificus "softening," from Latin mollis "soft" (from PIE root *mel- (1) "soft") + combining form of facere "to make, to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Transferred sense of "soften in temper, appease, pacify" is recorded from early 15c. Related: Mollified; mollifying.