emollient.

1. Having a calming or conciliatory effect on feeling or disagreement.

2. Having a softening or smoothing effect on skin.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• emollient tone
• emollient reply

On the page

An emollient reply let the argument end without surrendering the point.

His emollient tone made the refusal easier to hear.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Comparative more emollient; superlative most emollient where gradation is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.