Word.ws English Dictionary

balm

UK/bɑːm//bɑm/

balm noun: any of various aromatic resins exuded from certain plants, especially trees of the genus Commiphora of Africa, Arabia and India and Myroxylon of South America.

Noun

balm (countable and uncountable, plural balms)

  1. Any of various aromatic resins exuded from certain plants, especially trees of the genus Commiphora of Africa, Arabia and India and Myroxylon of South America.
    Synonyms:
    balsam
  2. An aromatic preparation for embalming the dead.
  3. A plant or tree yielding such substance.
    Synonyms:
    balsam
  4. Any soothing oil or lotion, especially an aromatic one.
    Synonyms:
    balsam
  5. (figuratively) Something soothing.
    • Classical music is a sweet balm for our sorrows.
    • BEAT on, proud billows; Boreas blow; / Swell, curled waves, high as Jove's roof; / Your incivility doth ſhow, / That innocence is tempeſt proof; / Though ſurly Nereus frown, my thoughts are calm; / Then ſtrike, Affliction, for thy wounds are balm. [Attributed to Roger L'Estrange (1616–1704).]1781, [Mostyn John Armstrong], History and Antiquities of the County of Norfolk. Volume IX. Containing the Hundreds of Smithdon, Taverham, Tunstead, Walsham, and Wayland, volume IX, Norwich: Printed...
    Synonyms:
    balsam
  6. The lemon balm, Melissa officinalis.
  7. Any of a number of other aromatic herbs with a similar citrus-like scent, such as bee balm and horsebalm.

Verb

balm (third-person singular simple present balms, present participle balming, simple past and past participle balmed)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To anoint with balm, or with anything medicinal.
    • Shrouded in cloth of state, balmed and entreasured / With full bags of spices!c. 1607–1608, William Shakespeare, George] [Wilkins, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, act 3, scene 2, lines 63–64
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To soothe; to mitigate.
    • This rest might yet have balmed thy broken sinewsc. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, King Lear, act 3, scene 6, line 96

balm meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

balm in Tamil

ஆற்றும் மருந்து, குளிரூட்டும் மருந்து, தணிக்கும் மருந்து, தோல் மருந்து, தைலம்

balm in Urdu

مرہم

balm in Bengali

মলম, প্রলেপ

balm in Telugu

బాల్మ్
More languagesFewer languages
balm in Malayalam
ശമനൗഷധം, വേദന ഇല്ലായ്മ ചെയ്യുന്ന ലേപനൗഷധം, പരിമളലേപനൗഷധം, ആലേപം
balm in Kannada
ಮುಲಾಮು, ಚರ್ಮಕ್ಕೆ ಹಚ್ಚುವ ಸುವಾಸನೆಯ ಔಷಧಿ, ನೊಂದ ಮನಕ್ಕೆ ಸಾಂತ್ವನ ನೀಡುವಂತಹದು
balm in Punjabi
ਬਾਮ bām
balm in Odia
ବାଲ୍ମ
balm in Nepali
बाल्म

Examples of balm in a sentence

  • My favorite flavor of lip balm is called mystical minty camomile.
  • Your forgiveness was a salve to my conscience and a balm to my wounded ego.
  • She put on some lip balm to moisten her lips.

All 16 example sentences with balm

Synonyms of balm

Forms of balm

Noun
pluralbalms
Verb
third-person singular presentbalms
present participlebalming
past participlebalmed
pastbalmed

Plural of balm: balms

Origin of balm

Inherited from Middle English bawme, borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Middle French baume, from Old French basme, from Latin balsamum, itself from Ancient Greek βάλσαμον (bálsamon). Spelling modified 16th c. to conform to Latin etymology. Doublet of balsam and desman.

Words formed from balm

Phrases with balm

Words that rhyme with balm

9 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about balm

What does balm mean?
Balm means any of various aromatic resins exuded from certain plants, especially trees of the genus Commiphora of Africa, Arabia and India and Myroxylon of South America.
What is balm in Tamil?
Balm in Tamil is ஆற்றும் மருந்து, குளிரூட்டும் மருந்து, தணிக்கும் மருந்து. See Balm meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is balm?
Balm can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce balm?
Balm is pronounced /bɑːm/ (UK).
What is the plural of balm?
The plural of balm is balms.

Words near balm in the dictionary

  1. Ballyvary
  2. Ballyvourney
  3. Ballyvoyle
  4. Ballyward
  5. Ballywilliam
  6. balm
  7. balm of Gilead
  8. balm of Judea
  9. balm of Mecca
  10. balm tea
  11. balm teas

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: balm (page history and authors); balm (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); balm (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); balm (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); balm (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); balm (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); balm (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਬਾਮ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); balm (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); balm (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-balm.ogg.

Cite this entry: “balm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/balm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.