What's the difference between mollify and soothe?

Mollify


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To soften; to make tender; to reduce the hardness, harshness, or asperity of; to qualify; as, to mollify the ground.
  • (v. t.) To assuage, as pain or irritation, to appease, as excited feeling or passion; to pacify; to calm.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "On the contrary, they often serve to inflame rather than mollify the feelings of those involved."
  • (2) The government has promised to pay for the treatment costs of the victims, but parents are unlikely to be easily mollified.
  • (3) Randomized studies, attempting to clarify the role of combined azathioprine and prednisone therapy versus prednisone alone in severe systemic lupus erythematosus have sustained rather than mollified a clinical controversy.
  • (4) All the evidence is that, in Scotland at least, had Corbyn been in charge at the time of the election, even the time of last year’s referendum, Labour’s meltdown may have been substantially mollified.
  • (5) The Department for Transport unveiled several tweaks to the first stage of the HS2 route to mollify opponents in the wealthy commuter belt north and west of London.
  • (6) The city's Communist Party chief Tang Jun and mayor Li Wancai attempted to mollify the crowd with a promise to move the polluting project out of the city," according to the Xinhua news agency.
  • (7) The next time you hear mollifying words from Rudd that our rising debt levels are at reasonable levels compared to other countries, think about how Britons were lulled into the financial danger zone and ask yourself: are we on the same trajectory?
  • (8) What is now known, thanks to the Leveson process, is that James Murdoch was considerably mollified at the time.
  • (9) In a bid to mollify critics, Obama said: "We will never undertake this research lightly.
  • (10) This seems like a statement designed simply to mollify concerned backbenchers but lacking the substance to actually protect the countryside from fracking pollution.” Martin Harper, RSPB’s conservation director, said: “We are very pleased the government has indicated it intends to ban fracking in England’s best places for wildlife, Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
  • (11) On the contrary they often serve to inflame rather than mollify the feelings of those involved."
  • (12) He thinks, too, that Downing Street's recent concerns over the children's services agenda - its perceived lack of measurable outcomes and its feared drag on academic attainment - have been mollified.
  • (13) I hope you understand.” Supporters – overwhelmingly pro-Federer, as usual – were mollified to an extent that Andy Murray , who suffered an overwhelming defeat by Federer in the final qualifying match, would step in to play a “pro set” of first to eight games against Djokovic, as well as a doubles match, partnering John McEnroe against Tim Henman and Pat Cash.
  • (14) But, apparently mollified by Gove's comments, Wilshaw put out a fresh statement on Sunday night, saying: "I have talked to the secretary of state today and I know that he is 100% supportive of my leadership.
  • (15) His reasons were the sheer scale of emissions from China’s coal-fuelled factories, and a need to mollify American public opinion.
  • (16) The speech appeared to be an attempt to rally his Islamist support base, with little to mollify the millions who marched for his removal in July.
  • (17) The investigations into Mubarak's sons are expected to mollify the opposition.
  • (18) Corbyn faces tension between assuring supporters that the policy direction will change and the need to mollify some frontbenchers who regard international issues, such as the UK-US relationship, as a principle they cannot compromise on.
  • (19) Nor were they mollified by his refusal to underwrite their future should any of them be convicted.
  • (20) His appointment could mollify Independent journalists worried that the potential appointment of Liddle could overturn the paper's liberal values.

Soothe


Definition:

  • (a.) To assent to as true.
  • (a.) To assent to; to comply with; to gratify; to humor by compliance; to please with blandishments or soft words; to flatter.
  • (a.) To assuage; to mollify; to calm; to comfort; as, to soothe a crying child; to soothe one's sorrows.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) So I am, of course, intrigued about the city’s newest tourist attraction: a hangover bar, open at weekends, in which sufferers can come in and have a bit of a lie down in soothingly subdued lighting, while sipping vitamin-enriched smoothies.
  • (2) Estonia had been reduced to 10 men early in the second half yet Hodgson’s men had to toil away for another 25 minutes before the goal, direct from Wayne Rooney’s free-kick, that soothed their mood and maintained their immaculate start to this qualifying programme.
  • (3) The latter practice has previously been ascribed to imprinting and the soothing sound of the mother's heartbeat on the infant.
  • (4) Mourinho's gloating will have done little to soothe Tottenham's anger.
  • (5) One peer, Lord Best, back in the House of Lords debate in 2011 , caught the deep importance of how a home should soothe and protect.
  • (6) For the past year, she has given the same talk at up to four "home parties" daily, fuelled by little more than coffee and larynx-soothing Malva tea.
  • (7) His neat nails were polished like pebbles and his voice had a soothing, almost balsamic, tone.
  • (8) Weirdly, the muffled Doppler effects of several thousand passing SUVs was quite soothing.
  • (9) Sceptics think Prokhorov will be one of half a dozen "approved" candidates used to soak up discontent with his soothing talk of inexorable change, while posing no real threat to Putin's supremacy.
  • (10) But that still puts the UK's deficit, at more than 12% of GDP, in line with that of crisis-hit Greece, and the numbers gave new momentum to the increasingly bitter row about what should come first: soothing the concerns of the bond markets with public sector cutbacks, or making sure the economy has recovered before switching off the life-support.
  • (11) Three precious points appeared to be theirs and they stood not only to crown a fightback that had hardly been trailed, but to soothe the pain of the 6-0 humbling at Chelsea from last Saturday.
  • (12) Cameron’s EU deal: the verdict from our panel | Matthew d’Ancona, Daniel Hannan, Tom Clark and Natalie Nougayrède Read more There was still a long way to go and the deal was far from sealed, Dave soothingly cajoled, but “what we’ve got is what I basically asked for”.
  • (13) It is a bit rich to expect us to state exactly how we’ll whip our troops when Cameron himself still can’t come out and say what he’ll do with his own cabinet.” Behind the scenes, “sources close to Corbyn” could usefully soothe pro-European nerves: “As an internationalist party, our inclination is of course to remain within the European family, but it would be irresponsible to declare our hand now, leaving Cameron to barter away British employment rights.” However Corbyn votes himself, it is perfectly plain that he will not have the authority to whip individual Euro-enthusiast MPs to vote against their consciences, so he may as well concede that at once.
  • (14) The results suggest that, in the presence of variation in feeding practice greater than that which is typical for our society, feeding interval may be a significant factor in early (but not later) crying behavior; furthermore, this effect is independent of and additive to the soothing effect of short response latency.
  • (15) In the three-minute video, ‘From Candles to Computers: Bringing Electricity to China’s Jing Jin village’, she says: “The coal industry is a major force in eliminating fuel poverty in China but, more importantly, it’s a critical driving force for the phenomenal economic growth China has experienced.” The video comes with a soothing soundtrack of traditional Chinese music, and is beautifully shot.
  • (16) Particular facets examined include the "soothing" function of medication, the placebo effect, and medication compliance, as well as countertransference difficulties encountered in administering the medicine.
  • (17) Their encouragement may soothe nervous Republicans but they have conflict of interest issues of their own .
  • (18) She also took the family's pet rabbit to soothe Hardwick, who had severe learning disabilities and a mental age of about four.
  • (19) If the prime minister had hoped to soothe old tensions, however, he failed – at least partially.
  • (20) Being responsible was more helpful to fathers who saw their infant as responding positively to soothing techniques and as smiling and laughing frequently, but less helpful to fathers who perceived their infant as being fearful and distressed by limitations.