anodyne

1 of 2

adjective

an·​o·​dyne ˈa-nə-ˌdīn 

1

: serving to alleviate pain

the anodyne properties of certain drugs

2

: not likely to offend or arouse tensions : innocuous

… his speech contained a single anodyne reference to the man who preceded him.

—John F. Burns

anodyne

2 of 2

noun

1

: something that soothes, calms, or comforts

The sweetness of sojourn there … was an anodyne for the sorrows the pilgrims had endured …

—Amy Kelly

2

: a drug that allays pain

Did you know?

Anodyne came to English via Latin from Greek anṓdynos (meaning "free from pain, causing no pain, harmless, allaying pain"), and it has been used as both an adjective and a noun ("something that soothes, calms, or comforts") since the 16th century. It has sometimes been used of things that dull or lull the senses and render painful experiences less so. British statesman Edmund Burke used it this way, for example, in 1790 when he referred to flattery as an "anodyne draft of oblivion" that renders one (in this particular case, the deposed King Louis XVI) forgetful of the flatterer's true feelings. Nowadays, in addition to describing things that dull pain, anodyne can also refer to that which doesn't cause discomfort in the first place.

Synonyms

Adjective

• benign
• harmless
• hurtless
• innocent
• innocuous
• inoffensive
• safe
• white

Noun

• analgesic
• anesthetic
• painkiller

Examples of anodyne in a Sentence

Adjective

the otherwise anodyne comments sounded quite inflammatory when taken out of context

Noun

the dentist prescribed an anodyne after the root canal

as an anodyne for the stress and superficiality of the modern world, there's nothing better than reading a literary classic of substance and insight

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Over on Threads, liberals will berate any journalist, especially those who write for the New York Times, who mentions even in the most modest or anodyne of ways that Biden’s age may be a concern, equating it to voting for Hitler or something. —Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 5 Mar. 2024

The result is anodyne — and lacks the erotic charge of an attraction with distinct flavor set against a recognizable world. —Naveen Kumar, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s government has systematically ignored even the most anodyne requests to minimize the killing of civilians, allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid, plan for a postwar Gaza, and help rebuild the PA. —Marc Lynch, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024

That might seem like a kind of anodyne title in a book about work, since most people who work do work full time. —Dominic Pino, National Review, 27 Feb. 2024

Kimmel, once an anodyne bro, now cheerfully torments the far-right conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell and keeps tabs on the antics of the Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. —Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 13 Feb. 2024

The Lafayette Hotel & Club The Lafayette’s exuberant, eclectic decor provides a bold, colorful riposte to anodyne hotel design. —Jeff Chu, Travel + Leisure, 25 Jan. 2024

Cosentino had recently got sober, and the record’s lyrics emphasized a kind of anodyne positivity. —Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 31 July 2023

At the start, those exterior shots of the house at 704 Hauser Street seem so anodyne. —Vulture, 6 Dec. 2023

Noun

The vision is an anodyne of rage. —Sasha Frere-Jones, Harper’s Magazine , 4 Nov. 2022

Peterson pauses, running his hand along the blue aluminum-anodyne actuator machined to match the length of Daniel’s right thigh. —John Brant, Popular Mechanics, 27 Apr. 2020

This is the confluence that defines the spectacle: statistics, like photographs, have a kind of moral authority, one whose meaning may repel us but one that nevertheless encourages certainty, and thus anodyne. —Shannon Pufahl, The New York Review of Books, 21 Apr. 2020

Ten years ago, lazy auto writers used the Toyota Camry as shorthand for anodyne transportation, a car for people who think of cars as appliances. —Ezra Dyer, Car and Driver, 13 Mar. 2020

The result of all that rulemaking and political sensitivity is the anodyne Covid-19. —Adam Rogers, Wired, 11 Feb. 2020

To yield to the soft tyranny of transgender pronouns is to pretend that gender dysphoria is an anodyne lifestyle on which societal legitimacy should be conferred, not a psychological malady requiring compassion and psychological treatment. —Josh Hammer, National Review, 27 Jan. 2020

As head of state, the British monarch is expected to remain publicly neutral on political matters, and the queen’s addresses tend to be broad, anodyne and even a little opaque. —New York Times, 24 Dec. 2019

Santa Clausification’—the softening of a public figure’s profile into something more anodyne and broadly acceptable. —Osita Nwanevu, The New Republic, 25 Sep. 2019

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

borrowed from Latin anōdynus "allaying pain," borrowed from Greek anṓdynos "free from pain, causing no pain, harmless, allaying pain," from an- an- + -ōdynos, adjective derivative (with compositional lengthening) of odýnē "pain," of uncertain origin

Note: In earlier etymological dictionaries (Frisk, Chantraine), odýnē is taken be a derivative, with a heteroclitic suffix *-ur-/*-un-, of the verbal base *h₁ed- "eat" (see eat entry 1), with the assumed change of e > o by vowel assimilation before a following -u-; allegedly comparable are Armenian erkn "labor pains, grief," Old Irish idu "pain, pangs of childbirth." More recently a different hypothesis proposes that the base of odýnē is a verbal root *h₃ed- "bite, sting," seen perhaps in Lithuanian úodas "gnat" (< *h₃od-o-). (See R. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2010.)

Noun

borrowed from Latin anōdynum "something allaying pain," borrowed from Greek anṓdynon "freedom from pain," noun derivative of anṓdynos "free from pain, causing no pain, harmless, allaying pain" — more at anodyne entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

1543, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

circa 1550, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

Medical Definition

anodyne

1 of 2 adjective

an·​o·​dyne ˈan-ə-ˌdīn 

: serving to ease pain

anodyne

2 of 2 noun

: a drug that allays pain