different between soothe vs tranquilize

English

Etymology

From Middle English sothen (“to verify, prove the validity of”), from Old English s?þian (“to verify, prove, confirm, bear witness to”), from Proto-Germanic *sanþ?n? (“to prove, certify, acknowledge, testify”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?es- (“to be”). Cognate with Danish sande (“to verify”), Swedish sanna (“to verify”), Icelandic sanna (“to verify”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (suþjan), ???????????????????????? (suþj?n, “to soothe”). See also: sooth.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su?ð/
• Rhymes: -u?ð

Verb

soothe (third-person singular simple present soothes, present participle soothing, simple past and past participle soothed)

1. (transitive) To restore to ease, comfort, or tranquility; relieve; calm; quiet; refresh.
   • 2013, Daniel Taylor, Andros Townsend calms England's nerves in taming of Montenegro (in The Guardian, 11 October 2013)[1]

     Yet Wayne Rooney scored at a good time, three minutes after the restart, to soothe any gathering nerves and the night can ultimately be chalked off as one of the finest occasions of Hodgson's 17 months in the job.

2. (transitive) To allay; assuage; mitigate; soften.
3. (transitive, rare) To smooth over; render less obnoxious.
4. (transitive) To calm or placate someone or some situation.
5. (transitive) To ease or relieve pain or suffering.
   • 1976, The Wurzels, I Am A Cider Drinker

     I am a cider drinker,

     I drinks it all of the day,

     I am a cider drinker,

     it soothes all me troubles away,

6. (intransitive) To temporise by assent, concession, flattery, or cajolery.
7. (intransitive) To bring comfort or relief.
8. (transitive) To keep in good humour; wheedle; cajole; flatter.
9. (transitive, obsolete) To prove true; verify; confirm as true.
10. (transitive, obsolete) To confirm the statements of; maintain the truthfulness of (a person); bear out.
11. (transitive, obsolete) To assent to; yield to; humour by agreement or concession.

Synonyms

• (humour by agreement or concession): comply, give way; See also Thesaurus:accede

Derived terms

• soothing, soothsayer

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• tranquillize, tranquilise, tranquillise

Etymology

From Middle French tranquiliser

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?t?æ?kw?la?z/
• Hyphenation: tran?quil?ize

Verb

tranquilize (third-person singular simple present tranquilizes, present participle tranquilizing, simple past and past participle tranquilized)

1. (transitive) To calm (a person or animal) or put them to sleep using a drug.

   Synonym: sedate

   • 1962, Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, New York: Dial, p. 255,^[2]

     Miss Ratched shall line us all against the wall, where we’ll face the terrible maw of a muzzle-loading shotgun which she has loaded with Miltowns! Thorazines! Libriums! Stelazines! And with a wave of her sword, blooie! Tranquilize all of us completely out of existence.

   • 1962, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Chapter 2, p. 13,^[3]

     When the public protests, confronted with some obvious evidence of damaging results of pesticide applications, it is fed little tranquilizing pills of half truth.

2. (transitive, now literary) To make (something or someone) tranquil.

   Synonyms: appease, calm, pacify

   • 1779, Frances Burney, Evelina, Dublin: Price, Corcoran et al., Volume 2, Letter 14, p. 87,^[4]

     […] with words of sweetest kindness and consolation, he soothed and tranquilised me.

   • 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Letter 1,^[5]

     […] I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose,—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.

   • 1865, G. O. Trevelyan, Cawnpore, London: Macmillan, Chapter 5, p. 322,^[6]

     The column was placed under the orders of Major Renaud, who pushed up the road; fighting as occasion offered; tranquillizing the country by the very simple expedient of hanging everybody who showed signs of insubordination […]

   • 1931, E. F. Benson, Mapp and Lucia, Chapter 4,^[7]

     Supported by an impregnable sense of justice but still dangerously fuming, Lucia went back to her garden-room, to tranquillize herself with an hour’s practice on the new piano.

   • 1995, Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, Chapter 11, p. 497,^[8]

     But time had tranquillized Dina’s worries about the landlord.

3. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To become tranquil.

   Synonyms: calm down, relax

   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, London, Volume 5, Letter 1, p. 11,^[9]

     Seest thou not, that this unseasonable gravity is admitted to quell the palpitations of this unmanageable heart? But still it will go on with its boundings. I’ll try, as I ride in my chariot, to tranquillize.

Antonyms

• madden

Derived terms

• tranquilization
• tranquilizer

Translations

References

Portuguese

Verb

tranquilize

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of tranquilizar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of tranquilizar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of tranquilizar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of tranquilizar