balm
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Any soothing oil or lotion.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bahmIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɑm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Any soothing oil or lotion, especially an aromatic one.
Any of various aromatic resinous substances used for healing and soothing
Semisolid preparation (usually containing a medicine) applied externally as a remedy or for soothing an irritation
A plant or tree yielding such substance.
Any of a number of other aromatic herbs with a similar citrus-like scent, such as bee balm and horsebalm.
An aromatic preparation for embalming the dead.
verb
transitivefigurative
To soothe; to mitigate.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any soothing oil or lotion, especially an aromatic one.
Used this way, balm is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It keeps things gentle rather than emphatic.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Calm and reassuring
- Usage feel
- Understated and gentle
Nearby words
- ointment , a specialist term, precise but narrower
- unguent , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use balm
- “She applied a soothing balm to her dry, chapped lips.”noun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.