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comfort Definition

com·fort (kumfərt)

transitive verb

  1. to soothe in distress or sorrow; ease the misery or grief of; bring consolation or hope to
  2. to give a sense of ease to
  3. Law to help; aid

Etymology: ME comforten < OFr conforter, to comfort < LL (esp. in Vulg. of O.T.) confortare, to strengthen much < L com-, intens. + fortis, strong: see fort

noun

  1. aid; encouragement: now only in aid and comfort
  2. relief from distress, grief, etc.; consolation
  3. a person or thing that comforts
  4. a state of ease and quiet enjoyment, free from worry, pain, or trouble
  5. anything that makes life easy or comfortable
  6. ☆ a quilted bed covering; comforter

comfort Related Forms
com·fort·ing adjective com·fort·less adjective
comfort Synonyms

comfort

n.

  1. A state of ease

    contentment, ease, well-being, rest, quiet, relaxation, repose, alleviation, relief, assuagement, poise, prosperity, opulence, cheer, snugness, abundance, sufficiency, gratification, luxury, warmth, plenty, creature comforts, amenities, satisfaction, satisfaction of bodily wants, coziness, pleasure, happiness, restfulness, peacefulness, cheerfulness, complacency, bed of roses*; see also convenience 2, ease 1, enjoyment 2, satisfaction 2.

    Antonyms discomfort, uneasiness, distress.

  2. Consolation

    solace, compassion, sympathy; see pity 1, sympathy 2.

  3. Anything that brings comfort

    help, support, succor; see aid 1, encouragement 2.

comfort Synonyms

comfort

v.

console, soothe, solace, condole, commiserate, grieve with, compassionate, sympathize, share with, calm, pacify, compose, tranquilize, reassure, hearten, cheer, gladden, inspirit, revive, reanimate, bolster up, put at ease, make comfortable, relieve, alleviate, assuage, allay, mitigate, quiet one's fears, help one in need, lighten one's burden, grant respite, disburden, succor, sustain, support, uphold, encourage, invigorate, enhearten, give one a lift, renew, refresh, revitalize, revivify, strengthen, salve, warm, ameliorate, lighten, soften, abate, remedy, release, restore, pat on the back, hold one's hand, sit by, put in a good humor; see also encourage 2, pity 1, sympathize.

Antonyms make uneasy, distress, afflict, discourage.

comfort suggests the lessening of misery or grief by cheering, calming, or inspiring with hope; console suggests less positive relief but implies a moderation of the sense of loss or disappointment to console someone on the death of a parent; solace suggests the relieving of melancholy, boredom, or loneliness I solaced myself with music; soothe implies the calming or allaying of pain, distress, or agitation to soothe a fretful child

comfort Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • combine: Students have been combining the comfort of city hotels with more challenging cultural activities.
  • enjoy: You will enjoy the modern comfort of the rooms which are decorated with delicate wood furnishings.
  • maximize: Further advice should include the culling of severely affected birds and special attention to the ventilation in order to maximize bird comfort.
  • offer: The officer was probably trying to offer comfort by suggesting that Herbert had had time for his final words.
  • sacrifice: They were cold, damp and infested, but most artists were prepared to sacrifice comfort for quantity.
  • afford: The use of a second monitor mounted from the same hub affords the same comfort to the assisting physician.

Preposition: in

  • warmth: Refurbished to provide individuality and comfort in the warmth of elegance.

Adjective modifier

  • thermal: To better understand why air temperature alone is not a valid indicator of thermal comfort, see the six basic factors.
  • added: Made from super-soft, 100 % cashmere, it offers a loose fit with an elasticated waist for added comfort.
  • optimum: Achieving the reference posture position and optimum workstation comfort has never been easier.
  • maximum: First Class The lie-flat sleeper seats in First Class on Boeing 777 aircraft are designed to give you maximum comfort in any position.
  • luxurious: Completely renovated in 2001, it is now a deluxe boutique property combining cutting edge design with luxurious comfort for the discerning traveler.
  • superior: Four Star - As three star plus bedrooms offering superior comfort and quality, with en suite bath, fitted overhead shower and WC.

Modifies a noun

  • zone: We were just in a really good zone, a good comfort zone that first part of the race.
  • blanket: Comfort blanket or weapon of war: what is Trident for?
  • cooling: The hotel goes from strength to strength with all bedrooms having comfort cooling installed in 2004.
  • eating: She would often gain even more as a result of comfort eating.

Noun used with modifier

  • creature: Most tourists visit peninsula Malaysia with the west coast offering more in the way of creature comforts.
  • passenger: Interior noise - the noise inside passenger vehicles has a great effect on the level of passenger comfort.
  • counselor: Trained volunteer counselors comfort, advise and protect children and young people who may feel they have nowhere else to turn.
comfort Quotes

Qu'est-ce qu'une charite¤   qui n'a point de pudeur avec le mise¤  rable, et qui, avant de le soulager, commence par e¤  craser son amour-propre. What is that charity worth which does not spare the wretched person's feelings, which instead, before providing comfort, beginsby wiping out hisself-esteem.

—Marivaux, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de

   Not, I'll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee; Not untwistöslack they may beöthese last strands of man In me or, most weary, cry I can no more. I can; Cansomething, hope, wish daycome, not choose not to be.

—Hopkins, SirAnthony

   esta¤   dema¤  s decirte que a esta altura no creo en predicadores ni en generales ni en las nalgas de miss universo ni en el arrepentimiento de los verdugos ni en el catecismo del confort ni en el flaco perdo¤  n de dios. It's not useless to tell you that, at this stage, I don't believe in preachers or generals or in Miss Universe's buttocks or in the executioner's repentance or in the catechism of comfort or in God's slim forgiving.

—Benedetti, Mario

Thethoughtofsuicide isagreat sourceofcomfort across many a bad night.

—Nietzsche, FriedrichWilhelm

Comfort came in with the middle classes.

—Bell, (Arthur) Clive Howard

Set me whereas the sun doth parch the green, Or where his beams may not dissolve the ice, In temperate heat, where he is felt and seen, With proud people, in presence sad and wise; Set me in base, or yet in high degree, In the long night, or in the shortest day, In clear weather, or where mists thickest be, In lusty youth, or when my hairs be grey† Yours will I be, and with that only thought Comfort myself when that my hap is nought.

—Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of

   Here! creep, Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind: all Life death does end and each day dies with sleep.

—Hopkins, SirAnthony

There is a certainrelief in change, even though it be from bad toworse† Ihave oftenfound intravelling ina stage- coach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place.

—Irving,Washington

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the L hand double for all her sins. The voice of himthat crieth in the wilderness,Prepare ye the way of the L, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valleyshall be exalted,and everymountainand hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the L shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the L hath spoken it. The voicesaid,Cry. And hesaid,What shall Icry? All flesh isgrass, and all thegoodlinessthereof isastheflowerof the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the L bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Console-toi, tu ne me chercherais pas si tu ne m'avais trouve¤  . Comfort yourself.You would not seek me if you had not found me.

—Pascal, Blaise

If youcannot have yourdear husband fora comfort and a delight, for a breadwinner and a crosspatch, for a sofa, chair or a hot-water bottle, one can use him as a Cross to be Borne.

—Smith, Stevie (Florence Margaret)

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing inittositdownonor to eat: it was a hobbit-hole,and that means comfort.

—Tolkien,J(ohn) R(onald) R(euel)

It is at thesetimesthat you realisethe blessings of a good thick skirt† Save for a good many bruises, here I was with the fulness of my skirt tucked under me, sitting on nine ebony spikes some twelve inches long, in comparative comfort.

—Kingsley, Mary Henrietta

Feoh byth frofur fira gehwylcum Sceal theah manna gehwylc miclun hyt d×lan. Money is a comfort to each man, But everyone should nevertheless give it away freely.

—Anonymous

Thirdly, It was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity. Into which holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined.

—Book of Common Prayer

Whena scandalousstory isbelieved againstone, thereis certainly no comfort like the conscience of having deserved it.

—Sheridan, Richard Brinsley

Ich habe kein Gemu«  t, sondern Angst. I have no comfort, onlyanxiety.

—Frisch, Max Rudolph

I revere the memory of Mr F. as an estimable man and most indulgent husband, only necessary to mention Asparagus and it appeared or to hint at any little delicate thing to drink and itcame likemagic ina pint bottleit was not ecstasy but it was comfort.

—Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam

Be a good manöbe virtuousöbe religiousöbe a good man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you come to lie here.

—Scott, Sir Walter

The great and almost onlycomfort about being a woman is that one can always pretend to be more stupid than one is and no one is surprised.

—Stark, Dame Freya Madeleine

Man seeketh in society comfort, use, and protection.

—Bacon, Francis,Viscount St Albans

The police dog of American fiction, except that his hatred isnottheresultof mere crabbednessbut of aneye that sees too deep for comfort.

—Fadiman, Clifton

The first sense he had of God was when he was eleven years oldat Chigwell being retired intoa chamberalone: he was so suddenly surprised with a sense of inward comfort and (as he thought) an external glory in the room that he had many times said that from thence he has the Seal of Divinityand Immortality, that there was a God and thatthesoul of manwas capable ofenjoying his divine communications.

—Aubrey,John

I tell you naught for your comfort, Yea, naught for your desire, Save that the sky grows darker yet And the sea rises higher.

—Chesterton, G(ilbert) K(eith)

Today I see more clearly than yesterday that back of the problem of race and color, lies a greater problem which both obscures and implements it: and that isthefact that so many civilized persons are willing to live in comfort even if the price of this is poverty, ignorance and disease of the majority of their fellowmen; that to maintain this privilege men have waged war until today war tends to become universal and continuous, and the excuse for this war continues largely to be color and race.

—Du Bois,W(illiam) E(dward) B(urghardt)