different between comforter vs anodyne

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman confortour, from Old French conforter. See comfort.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?mf?t?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?k?mf??t??/

Noun

comforter (plural comforters)

1. A person who comforts someone who is suffering.

   Synonym: consoler
2. (US) A padded cover for a bed, duvet, continental quilt.

   Synonyms: duvet, (continental) quilt
3. (dated, chiefly Britain) A woollen scarf for winter.
   • 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, Chapter 29,^[1]

     […] round his neck he wore a flaming red worsted comforter, whereof the straggling ends peeped out beneath his threadbare Newmarket coat, which was very tight and buttoned all the way up.

   • 1881, Felix L. Oswald, “Physical Education,” Popular Science Monthly June, 1881, p. 148,^[2]

     The American schoolboy takes off his comforter and unbuttons his jacket before going in for a snowball fight.
4. (Britain, New Zealand, Australia) A pacifier.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pacifier

Translations

Anagrams

• recomfort

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin an?dynos (“stilling or relieving pain”), from Ancient Greek ???????? (an?dunos, “free from pain”), from ??- (an-, “without”) + ????? (odún?, “pain”).

Adjective sense “noncontentious” probably through French anodin (“harmless, trivial”), of same origin.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?æn.?.da?n/
• Rhymes: -a?n

Adjective

anodyne (comparative more anodyne, superlative most anodyne)

1. (pharmacology) capable of soothing or eliminating pain [from 16th c.]
   • 1847, Littell's Living Age, number 161, 12 June 1847, in Volume 13, page 483:

   • 1910, Edward L. Keyes, Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs, page 211:

2. (figuratively) soothing or relaxing [from 18th c.]

3. (by extension) noncontentious, blandly agreeable, unlikely to cause offence or debate [from 20th c.]

   Synonyms: bland, inoffensive, noncontentious

   • 2003, The Guardian, 20 May 2003:

   • 2010, "Rattled", The Economist, 9 Dec 2010:

Translations

Noun

anodyne (plural anodynes)

1. (pharmacology) any medicine or other agent that relieves pain
2. (figuratively) a source of relaxation or comfort
   • 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. VII:

   • 1929, Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, page 79:

Translations

Derived terms

References

• anodyne in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “anodyne”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• “anodyne”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• annoyed

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.n?.din/
• Homophone: anodynes

Adjective

anodyne

1. feminine singular of anodyn

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /a?no?.dy.ne/, [ä?no?d??n?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /a?no.di.ne/, [??n??d?in?]

Adjective

an?dyne

1. vocative masculine singular of an?dynos or an?dynus