Search

a medicine that relieves or allays pain.
anything that relieves distress or pain:
The music was an anodyne to his grief.
relieving pain.
soothing to the mind or feelings.
Contemporary Examples

The person to blame for all this is the anodyne British pop star Gary Barlow.
England World Cup Songs In Last Minute Penalty Shoot out Tom Sykes June 11, 2014

Penelope is closer in sensibility to an anodyne sitcom than a precocious bildungsroman.
Paul Auster, Bernhard Schlink, and More of This Week’s Hot Reads: Aug. 13, 2012 Mythili Rao August 11, 2012

I was asked a series of anodyne questions about Bush and life in his White House.
The Gaffney-Norquist Feud Resumed Noah Kristula-Green July 31, 2012

Indeed, his anodyne remarks touched only briefly on the debate over gay rights.
Mitt Romney Dodges Gay Marriage in Liberty University Speech Michelle Goldberg May 11, 2012

And are Iranian overtures to France, especially to French business, anodyne or a way to undermine Western resolve?
Iran’s Mixed Messages Ahead Of P5+1 Talks Jamie Dettmer February 16, 2014

Historical Examples

The excitements of purchase and preparation were as good an anodyne as she could have taken.
Saint’s Progress John Galsworthy

I crave for the balm of Nature, the anodyne of solitude, the breath of Mother Earth.
Ballads of a Bohemian Robert W. Service

And all this work may prove an anodyne to pain of another kind.
The Lady of the Shroud Bram Stoker

Every one in a passion in Italy is styled Eccellenza, as an “anodyne.”
The Daltons, Volume II (of II) Charles James Lever

Slightly soothing or anodyne; in chronic laryngitis, relaxed uvula, &c.
Cooley’s Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades…, Sixth Edition, Volume I Arnold Cooley

noun
a drug that relieves pain; analgesic
anything that alleviates mental distress
adjective
capable of relieving pain or distress
adj.

1540s, from Medieval Latin anodynus “pain-removing, allaying pain,” from Latin anodynus “painless,” from Greek anodynos “free from pain,” from an- “without” (see an- (1)) + odyne “pain,” a word perhaps from PIE root *ed- “to eat” (cf., from the same root, Lithuanian edžioti “to devour, bite,” edžiotis “to suffer pain;” see eat). In old slang, frequently a euphemism for “death;” e.g. anodyne necklace “hangman’s noose.”

anodyne an·o·dyne (ān’ə-dīn’)
n.
An agent that relieves pain.