What's the difference between assuage and lessen?

Assuage


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To soften, in a figurative sense; to allay, mitigate, ease, or lessen, as heat, pain, or grief; to appease or pacify, as passion or tumult; to satisfy, as appetite or desire.
  • (v. i.) To abate or subside.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But the fact Yellen is even being considered is a feat in itself as central banking is still an old boy’s club, Cooper adds: The new Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney may have assuaged feminists with his choice of Jane Austen for the ten pound note, but his Monetary Policy Committee is female free.
  • (2) Their frustration at the failure here cannot be underestimated and it cannot be easily assuaged through more elections.
  • (3) He had also insisted on construction continuing at Arak, and suggested that international concerns could be assuaged if the work stopped short of putting uranium fuel in the reactor and turning it on.
  • (4) Nonetheless, he achieved much in his six months in charge: he implemented Oslo II ahead of schedule, assuaged the religious right, bolstered the economy and co-operated with Arafat over the first-ever Palestinian elections.
  • (5) Initial findings of a limited study of one of the groups suggest a high degree of agreement among parent-members as to the ameliorative effect of this type of therapy, notably its capacity to assuage feelings of isolation.
  • (6) Moreover, she explains, seeing off the paedo-menace has yielded other improvements: the child protection sessions are part of a council drive to assuage community fears that has been careful to take grass-roots sentiment on board.
  • (7) Before it is realised, however, pioneers like Amazon will have to assuage the doubts of privacy activists concerned about the impact on civil liberties and of government regulators worried about how flying robots would interact with manned aircraft.
  • (8) It was a highly provocative gesture that did nothing to assuage fears that Morsi’s election marked the gateway to a more extremist Egypt.
  • (9) Water or diluted fruit juice may be used to assuage thirst, but should not supplant milk even in the later stages of weaning, since they contain no calcium or most other essential micronutrients.
  • (10) Fahmy's announcement may assuage concerns that the new army-installed government that replaced Morsi's is attempting to stall a return to democratic politics.
  • (11) While Wednesday's ruling could be seen as a victory for the PDRC, it is unlikely to assuage protesters, who may now turn on the new caretaker prime minister, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Thailand's Institute of Security and International Studies.
  • (12) This protocol provides a systematic approach to investigation and analysis, prioritizes the need for more in-depth study, and, when necessary, assuages community concerns when a disease cluster is reported.
  • (13) However, it is unclear if Clinton’s opposition to Arctic drilling, and support of Keystone pipeline, will assuage liberals who accuse her of political maneuvering in the face of a surprisingly successful challenge from Sanders.
  • (14) The 57-year-old issued a full apology to "patients, relatives and carers [who] found themselves in the position where they not only had terrible things happen to them but the very organisation they looked to for support let them down in the most devastating of ways" – but this did little to assuage the anger felt.
  • (15) The US Senate's defeat of a background check expansion three weeks ago did nothing to assuage the fears of Missouri Republicans, who pressed forward with their legislation.
  • (16) But the cash has only gone some way towards assuaging critics, one of whom complained that companies should not be able to "pick and choose" how much tax they wanted to pay.
  • (17) The limitation will go some way to assuage the concerns of German taxpayers whose frustration at the prospect of having to bail out indebted southern European countries indefinitely has been on the rise.
  • (18) Acupuncture assuaged the emotional, but not the sensory, response to the painful stimulation.
  • (19) Both feeding patterns involve assuagement of hunger needs but are dependent on social setting.
  • (20) The top US commander in Afghanistan rushed to assuage those concerns, saying the deal was not a "zero option" that would leave the country's security forces isolated after 2016, acknowledging critical components such as the fledgling air force would probably get intense and longer-term support.

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.