Sooth
adj, adv, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Truth. archaic, uncountable
"In sooth, I know not why I am so sad."
- 2 truth or reality wordnet
- 3 Augury; prognostication. obsolete, uncountable
"The sooth of birds, by beating of their wings."
- 4 Blandishment; cajolery. obsolete, uncountable
- 5 Reality; fact. obsolete, uncountable
- 1 Obsolete form of soothe. alt-of, obsolete
"To be ſhort, a wretched and curſed generation they be; hypocrites, pretending friendſhip, but they can not skill of plaine dealing and franke ſpeech. Rich men they claw, ſooth up and flatter: the poore they contemne and deſpiſe."
- 1 True. archaic
- 2 Pleasing; delightful; sweet. obsolete
"The soothest shepherd that e'er pip'd on plains"
- 1 In truth; indeed. archaic, not-comparable
"That shall I sooth (said he) to you declare."
Example
More examples"Sooth, then, shall she return / to Sparta and Mycenae, ay, and see / home, husband, sons and parents, safe and free, / with Ilian wives and Phrygians in her train, / a queen, in pride of triumph? Shall this be, / and Troy have blazed and Priam's self been slain, / and Trojan blood so oft have soaked the Dardan plain?"
Etymology
From Middle English sooth, from Old English sōþ (“truth; true, actual, real”), from Proto-West Germanic *sanþ, from Proto-Germanic *sanþaz (“truth; true”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁sónts, *h₁s-ont- (“being, existence, real, true”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”). Akin to Old Saxon sōþ (“true”), Old High German sand (“true”), Old Norse sannr (“true”), Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌾𐌰 (sunja, “truth”), Old English synn (“sin, guilt"; literally, "being the one guilty”). More at sin. See also soothe, derived from the same Old English word.
Related phrases
More for "sooth"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.