What's the difference between allay and lessen?

Allay


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm; as, to allay popular excitement; to allay the tumult of the passions.
  • (v. t.) To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate; as, to allay the severity of affliction or the bitterness of adversity.
  • (v. t.) To diminish in strength; to abate; to subside.
  • (n.) Alleviation; abatement; check.
  • (n.) Alloy.
  • (v. t.) To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A diagnostic approach and some management procedures that include eliminating all oral irritants, correcting predisposing systemic disease, and most important of all, allaying anxiety that induces parafunctional mouth habits.
  • (2) Although barium meal examination improves diagnostic confidence and allays patients' anxiety, fully utilising communication skills at the initial consultation might allay anxiety more economically.
  • (3) Truss will seek to allay parents' fears of their children being neglected by over-pressed staff, pointing out that the relaxation she proposes still leaves more restrictive ratios than Denmark, France and Germany – three countries often seen as providing high quality care for pre-school children.
  • (4) The findings suggest a need for public education about the vaccine, with particular emphasis directed at allaying fears about side effects.
  • (5) These feelings were allayed by counseling, but there was evidence of some residual unease.
  • (6) My regret at not eating these tasty snacks is soon allayed by Sara’s magical wilderness cooking skills: she somehow conjures up a three-course dinner from a few packets and a single burner.
  • (7) The results allayed concerns of a cruciate ligament injury but revealed damage to the lateral collateral ligament, which can result in a three-month lay-off.
  • (8) He requires patience, understanding, and repeated explanations to allay his apprehension and anxiety.
  • (9) Truss will seek to allay parents' fears of their children being neglected by overpressed staff, pointing out that the relaxation she proposes still leaves more restrictive ratios than Denmark, France and Germany – three countries often cited as providing high-quality care for pre-school children.
  • (10) Proper pharmacologic preparation of the patient will allay anxiety, increase comfort, and reduce the overall quantity of anesthetic needed.
  • (11) Experience has shown that simple information-giving alone does little to allay the panic in the general population and in hospital personnel.
  • (12) The first task of the new government was to allay those fears, to reassure the 27 that when Farage turned up at the European parliamen t after the referendum, like a drunk taunting an ex-wife at a cocktail party, he did not speak for Britain.
  • (13) However, the BBC has sought to allay criticism of its talent costs by publishing salary bands for the pay of top stars.
  • (14) This feeling allays anxiety and depressive affects, and the patient comes to experience the analyst as a soother.
  • (15) Help in coping with the fears and in allaying the anxiety of their husbands was most required in those with mild disease and those in whom it had progressed to become socially disabling, but without confining the patients to their homes.
  • (16) But Abbott has made it clear he will not stand aside, and is seeking to allay his colleague’s concerns and quell the dissent, including about the powerful role played by his chief of staff, Peta Credlin .
  • (17) Various mechanisms exist to at least partially allay the fears and anxiety of this period, generally through the use of a multidisciplinary approach.
  • (18) This trial also suggested that women's anxiety was actually increased during scans, and then allayed by positive feedback from the operator.
  • (19) The campaign, launched on Sunday , seeks to allay the misconception that the higher education contribution scheme (Hecs) is being abolished under changes yet to pass parliament, and says the federal government “will continue to pay around half your undergraduate degree”.
  • (20) The results suggest that in circumstances where parents are to be excluded from induction, adequate preoperative explanation and sedative premedication would contribute to allaying parental anxiety, but that a flexible policy may be most appropriate.

Lessen


Definition:

  • (a.) To make less; to reduce; to make smaller, or fewer; to diminish; to lower; to degrade; as, to lessen a kingdom, or a population; to lessen speed, rank, fortune.
  • (v. i.) To become less; to shrink; to contract; to decrease; to be diminished; as, the apparent magnitude of objects lessens as we recede from them; his care, or his wealth, lessened.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The transmission of alcoholism and its effects are thereby lessened for future generations of children of alcoholics.
  • (2) Bacteria can stop or lessen antibodies synthesis process.
  • (3) Behavioral variables, including interreinforcement interval and drug self-administration history, appear to be important determinants of whether or not reinforcement will be demonstrated, particularly among the benzodiazepines; but the range of conditions under which behavioral and pharmacological variables interact to promote or lessen the likelihood of self-administration of these drugs remains to be determined experimentally.
  • (4) "It is in my power to lessen their sentence – it's not excluded that that will happen."
  • (5) Diminished pressor responsiveness was considered to be due to concurrent reduction of central sympathetic vasomotor activity, because sympathetic nerve responses to hypothalamic stimulation were appreciably lessened in tripamide-treated SHR.
  • (6) The introduction of biological valves or of valves with a lessened risk of embolism is highly desirable in such cases.
  • (7) In this paper, these and related facts were summarized and some precautions were suggested to lessen the increase of resistant strains in this country.
  • (8) Recent improvements in surgical techniques and selective embolization have lessened the risks of surgical excision, decreased the blood loss, and diminished the time required for resection.
  • (9) We have previously shown that in the cat, taurine is an osmoprotective molecule that lessens mortality, neurological morbidity, and brain-cell dehydration during chronic hypernatremic dehydration.
  • (10) Rats given Sendai virus concurrently with the FCA, or any time after FCA was injected, did not have a lessened severity of the arthritic reaction, as compared with that in control animals.
  • (11) A decrease in relative risks since diagnosis of the first primary cancer was seen that may partly be attributed to a lessening of the intensity of medical surveillance with time.
  • (12) Incorporation of porosity into the grafts, which is necessary for tissue ingrowth, is expected to lessen this difference.
  • (13) The data strongly suggest that conferring the sick role on the mentally ill does not lessen rejection, but may, in some instances, increase social rejection.
  • (14) In contrast, hydroxyurea treatment was associated with a 1.5-fold to sevenfold increase in F cells and a 2.3- to 27-fold increase in the percentage of Hb F. In the three patients whose response reached a plateau, hydroxyurea treatment was associated with lessened hemolysis, decreased serum bilirubin and lactate dehydrogenase levels, and prolonged 51chromium-labeled RBC survival.
  • (15) O’Malley also called for: The relationship between federal immigration law enforcement and local law enforcement to be significantly lessened.
  • (16) Utilization of outpatient surgical centers helps reduce the cost of health care, lessens the disruption of patients' personal lives, and promotes their recovery through early ambulation and a lower incidence of postoperative nosocomial complications.
  • (17) It also lessened the hypertonus of isolated guinea-pig trachea caused by pilocarpine.
  • (18) The use of tissue allografts lessens patient morbidity and suffering and in many cases spares limbs and lives.
  • (19) Unlike acute combinations, chronic imipramine lessened the rate reducing effect of methadone.
  • (20) The results of a bronchial challenge to Aspergillus species, however, remained positive; these positive results suggest that long-term memory immune mechanisms may play an important role in the pathogenesis of hypersensitivity pneumonitis and lessen the importance of precipitins in establishing a diagnosis.