mollify

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 6, 2025 is: mollify \MAH-luh-fye\ verb To mollify someone is to make them less angry. Mollify can also mean "to reduce in intensity." // The celebrity's statement was intended to mollify critics. // Time mollified her anger. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mollify) Examples: "The philanthropic move is likely meant to mollify angry residents who are protesting against the celebrity-filled spectacle being held in their historic backyard." — Madeleine Marr, The Miami Herald, 25 June 2025 Did you know? Mollify is particularly well-suited for referring to the action of soothing emotional distress or anger and softening hard feelings: the word comes from the Latin adjective mollis, meaning "soft." Mollis is also the root of the English adjective [emollient](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emollient), used to describe something (such as a hand lotion) that softens or soothes, and the noun [mollusk](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mollusk), which refers to any one of a large group of animals (such as snails and clams) that have a soft body without a backbone and that usually live in a shell.