anodyne
/ˈæn.ə.daɪn/
anodyne adjective: capable of soothing or eliminating pain.
Adjective
anodyne (comparative more anodyne, superlative most anodyne)
- Capable of soothing or eliminating pain.
- Many a time has the vapor of ether been inhaled for the relief of oppressed lungs; many a time has the sought relief been thus obtained; and just so many times has the discovery of the wonderful anodyne properties of this gas, as affecting all bodily suffering, been brushed past and overlooked.1847 June 12, Littell's Living Age, volume 13, number 161, page 483
- The citrate is the most efficient as an alkali, but irritates some stomachs, the liquor the most anodyne, the acetate the most diuretic.1910, Edward L. Keyes, Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs, page 211
- Synonyms:
- analgesic, antalgesic, antipain, pain-relieving, painkilling
- Soothing or relaxing.
- Classical music is rather anodyne.
- Noncontentious, blandly agreeable, unlikely to cause offence or debate.
- Near-synonyms: harmless, neutral
- It all became so routine, so anodyne, so dull.20 May 2003, The Guardian
- Synonyms:
- innocuous, bland, inoffensive, uncontentious, uncontroversial, unexceptionable, unprovocative, harmless, neutral
Noun
anodyne (plural anodynes)
- Any medicine or other agent that relieves pain.
- A source of relaxation or comfort.
- Nor do I mean to say that Virtue is not Virtue because it is never tempted to go astray; only that dulness is a much finer gift than we give it credit for being; and that some people are very lucky whom Nature has endowed with a good store of that great anodyne.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 16, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published...
- The air was heavy with the perfume of the flowers, and their beauty seemed to bring him an anodyne for his pain.1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter VII, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC
anodyne meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
anodyne in Tamil
- வலி நீக்கி, நோயற்றும் மருந்து, மனத்துக்கு ஆறுதல் தருவது, துன்பந் தணிக்கிற
anodyne in Urdu
- مُسکِّن دَوا, سُکُون بَخش
anodyne in Bengali
- বেদনানাশক, শান্তিদায়ক
anodyne in Malayalam
- painkiller, painkilling drug, pain reliever
- വേദനാശമനൗഷധം, മയക്കുമരുന്ന്, മൂർച്ഛാജനകവസ്തു, വേദന സംഹാരി, വേദനസംഹാരിമരുന്ന്, അവതർപ്പണം
- bland, inoffensive, innocuous
- മനശ്ശാന്തി നൽകുന്ന, രൂക്ഷതയില്ലാത്ത, മൃദുവായ, സൗമ്യമായ, നിരുപദ്രവകരമായ, ദോഷമില്ലാത്ത
Examples of anodyne in a sentence
- States typically like to stick to anodyne messages, like saving wildflowers or animals.2010 December 9, “Rattled”, in The Economist:
- So, with a sigh, because novels so often provide an anodyne and not an antidote, glide one into torpid slumbers instead of rousing one with a burning brand.1929, Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, page 79:
Synonyms of anodyne
- analgesic
- antalgesic
- antipain
- pain-relieving
- painkilling
- innocuous
- bland
- inoffensive
- uncontentious
- uncontroversial
4 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of anodyne
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more anodyne |
| superlative | most anodyne |
| Noun | |
| plural | anodynes |
Origin of anodyne
From Middle English anodine, from Medieval Latin anōdynos (“stilling or relieving pain”), from Ancient Greek ἀνώδυνος (anṓdunos, “free from pain”), from ἀν- (an-, “without”) + ὀδύνη (odúnē, “pain”). Adjective sense “noncontentious” probably through French anodin (“harmless, trivial”), of same origin.
Words formed from anodyne
Phrases with anodyne
Words that rhyme with anodyne
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- design
- divine
- combine
- pine
- spline
- swine
- consign
- frankenstein
- nine
- refine
- vine
- whine
- benign
- chine
- in line
- intertwine
- recline
- resign
- rine
- undermine
- wine
- affine
- dine
- gold mine
- incline
- malign
- opine
- outshine
- propine
- red line
- shrine
- syne
- tine
- trunk line
- tyne
- atrine
- berine
- bine
- brine
- cline
- confine
- disentwine
- einstein
- equine
- offline
- quine
- repine
- rhine
Questions about anodyne
- What does anodyne mean?
- Anodyne means capable of soothing or eliminating pain.
- What is anodyne in Tamil?
- Anodyne in Tamil is வலி நீக்கி, நோயற்றும் மருந்து, மனத்துக்கு ஆறுதல் தருவது. See Anodyne meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use anodyne in a sentence?
- States typically like to stick to anodyne messages, like saving wildflowers or animals.
- What part of speech is anodyne?
- Anodyne can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce anodyne?
- Anodyne is pronounced /ˈæn.ə.daɪn/ (UK).
Words near anodyne in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: anodyne (page history and authors); anodyne (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); anodyne (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); anodyne (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); anodyne (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-anodyne.wav.
Cite this entry: “anodyne.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/anodyne. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.