Mollify vs Allay - What's the difference?
mollify | allay |
To ease a burden, particularly worry; make less painful; to comfort.
* 1893 , (Henry George), The Condition of Labor: An Open Letter to Pope Leo XIII,
*:All that charity can do where injustice exists is here and there to somewhat mollify the effects of injustice.
* 1997 , A Government Reinvented: A Study of Alberta's Deficit Elimination Program,
*:The draft Charter School Handbook issued in November 1994 sought to mollify concerns over teacher quality, if not ATA membership, by requiring teacher certification.
To appease (anger), pacify, gain the good will of.
* 1867 , , chapter 2:
* 1916 , , chapter 5:
To soften; to make tender
* 1662 , , Book III, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 113:
* 1724 , (William Burkitt), Expository Notes, with Practical Observations on the New Testament,
*:By thy kindness thou wilt melt and mollify his spirit towards thee, as hardest metals are melted by coals of fire …
To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.
(obsolete) To subside, abate, become peaceful.
* 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Mark IV:
* Shakespeare
(archaic) To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in A Study in Scarlet alleviation; abatement; check
As verbs the difference between mollify and allay
is that mollify is to ease a burden, particularly worry; make less painful; to comfort while allay is to make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.As a noun allay is
alleviation; abatement; check.mollify
English
Alternative forms
* mollifieVerb
(en-verb)p. 104:
p. 408:
- Although this invitation was accompanied with a curtsey that might have softened the heart of a church-warden, it by no means mollified the beadle.
- The angry goat was quite mollified by the respectful tone in which he was addressed.
- "Nor is it any more difficulty for him to mollifie what is hard, then it is to harden what is so soft and fluid as the Aire."
p. 102:
Synonyms
* (to ease a burden) assuage, calm, comfort, mitigate, soothe * (to appease) appease, conciliate, pacify, placate, propitiate, satisfy * See alsoallay
English
Alternative forms
* (obsolete)Verb
(en verb)- to allay popular excitement
- to allay the tumult of the passions
- to allay the severity of affliction or the bitterness of adversity
- And the wynde alayed , and there folowed a greate calme: and he sayde unto them: why are ye fearfull?
- When the rage allays .
- (Fuller)
Quotations
He had to pretend to be drunk in order to allay the suspicions which might have been aroused by his appearance at the gate.—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in A Study in Scarlet