by Naomi L. | August 19, 2013 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: assuage
Pronunciation: ə-SWAYJ
Part of Speech: verb
Definition:
- make (an unpleasant feeling) less intense
- satisfy (an appetite or desire)
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Amy: Perhaps you could assuage your guilt through altruism. (pause as Penny looks confused) Which word’s tripping you up? Assuage or altruism?
Penny: Both.
Bernadette: You’ll feel better by doing something nice for someone.
Penny: I actually knew that.
Amy: I never doubted you.
– The Big Bang Theory, (Season 5, Episode 11- The Speckerman Recurrence)
The above dialogue was taken from an episode of The Big Bang Theory, when Penny realizes a certain truth about herself of which she wasn’t aware until her friends brought the subject to her attention: she was a bully in high school. In light of this revelation, Bernadette and Amy suggest she do charity work in order to ease the guilt she starts to feel over the suffering she caused her peers as a teenager, a fact she claims to have already known (though not quite in the same sophisticated manner as her biologist friends).
To “assuage” a bad feeling is to ease it, thus making it less unpleasant. When referring specifically to a wish or appetite, to “assuage” it means to satisfy it. The word can be traced back to the Old French verb assouagier (“appease, calm”), which is based on the Latin roots ad- “to” and suavis “pleasant, sweet”.
This verb is one of several synonyms for “alleviate”, though each seems to have its own specific uses. While “relieve” suggests reducing discomfort to a tolerable level and “allay” is often used to demonstrate a negative emotion (as in fear or suspicion) being put to rest, “assuage” implies an achievement of satisfaction on a greater or more permanent scale. Therefore, I would suggest using the word in reference to the relief of unpleasant feelings that are relatively more intense, such as the guilt that drove Penny to call an old bullying victim of hers and apologize to her for pranks mistakenly thought to have been all in good fun. Whether used to express alleviation of strong emotions or of simple desires, “assuage” is a good verb to consider when seeking the best word on the “relieve” spectrum for your writing. Use it well!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
by Naomi L. | August 19, 2013 | Blog, News |
Time for another news update! Here are a few things to look out for on my blog in the upcoming weeks.
New Blogging Awards
Some of you may have noticed a fancy new slideshow in my sidebar. Well, since my nomination for the Sunshine Blogger Award by Jennifer M Zeiger, I’ve received two more awards for my blog! One is the Liebster Award, for which I was nominated by Emily Morgan of Emily Morgan Writes and Mama Going Solo. The other is the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award, given to me by Lily of Lilica’s Place. Thank you so much, ladies! I’m truly honored!
I’m still working on my post for the Liebster Award, which might take at least a couple of weeks to be published. Since the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award has simpler rules to it (just passing the award on to other female bloggers you like, no questions to answer or anything), I may end up sharing that one first. It shouldn’t be too hard for me to find enough nominees for this one, as most of the blogs I’m currently following are written by women. This one is going out to the awesome ladies I’ve been meeting in the blogosphere! Thanks for all your inspiration, and be sure to look for a nomination soon!
Also, with three blogging award nominations and a writing contest win so far, I’m putting together an Awards page for my blog. So exciting to know I’m inspiring my readers! Thank you!
Word of the Week Index
With almost 20 words featured in my Word of the Week segment so far, I think it’s about time for me to add a vocabulary index to my blog. If I can manage to complete it, it’ll be on a new page attached to the Word of the Week category link under Resources in the menu bar. I’ve already installed a table plugin on my site, for easy sorting of words alphabetically or by publish date. Hopefully I can find the time to set it up soon!
Sharing the Link Love
Since I started blogging actively, I’ve been meeting quite a few interesting people with equally interesting websites. After all the inspiration and encouragement I’ve been getting from other writers, I think it’s only fair for me to give something back.
I’d love to share links to the great blogs I’ve been following, so I’m adding a new blogroll widget to my sidebar. Because I want to be fair to everyone featured among my picks, the links will always be randomized, like the quote rotator at the bottom of my site. The blogroll will display links in a different order every time the page is refreshed, so that everyone has an equal chance of being listed first (or at all, when I have more than ten links). I apologize in advance to anyone I may forget to add at first; I can be quite the scatterbrain!
This concludes another news update. Thanks for reading! Have a great week!
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