Definition of "lenitive" [len•i•tive]

• Capable of easing pain or discomfort. (adjective)
• A lenitive medicine. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Antony as to Cæsar; the easy Claudius allowed himself to be governed by Agrippina; easy applied to Claudius is only a lenitive, the proper expression is weak."
• "Wherefore the word X+S+D+, following may be taken adverbially, as a lenitive of that severity which this word importeth: "Let him smite me;" but"
• "And in the hospital of the mind, the lenitive and fostering measures have a still larger share in the work of a moral restoration."