Meaning & use
self-soothe
Last updated
Meanings
verbintransitive
To calm yourself when you are upset, without help from other people.
Grammar: No object; used without 'yourself' because 'self' is already in the word.
Patterns
- self-soothe by doing something
- learn to self-soothe
Babies eventually learn to self-soothe and fall asleep on their own.
After a stressful day, she self-soothes by taking a long bath.
He was taught techniques to self-soothe during panic attacks.
verbtransitive
To comfort a baby without picking it up, so it learns to settle itself.
Grammar: Takes an object: self-soothe a baby.
Patterns
- self-soothe a baby
- self-soothe a child
Some parents choose to self-soothe their baby by patting the crib instead of carrying him.
The nurse showed us how to self-soothe the newborn after feeding.
Word forms
| third person singular | self-soothes |
|---|---|
| past tense | self-soothed |
| past participle | self-soothed |
| -ing form | self-soothing |
Common combinations
- learn to self-soothe
- Most children learn to self-soothe by the age of two.
- self-soothe by doing something
- He self-soothes by listening to music.
- self-soothe a baby
- It is possible to self-soothe a baby without leaving her alone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- calm down
- More general and can be used with or without 'yourself'; self-soothe specifically means doing it alone.
- compose yourself
- Suggests regaining control after strong emotion, often in public; self-soothe is broader and can be a habit.
Word family
- self-soothing noun
- The act or habit of calming yourself.
Commonly confused: self-soothe or soothe?
self-soothe vs soothe
Soothe means to make someone else feel calmer; self-soothe means you calm yourself.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'self-soothe' correctly.
Choose one answer.
'Self-soothe' already includes the idea of 'yourself', so no object is needed. Option 1 is wrong because 'herself' is redundant. Option 3 means she calms another person. Option 4 has the wrong verb form for 'she'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “self-soothe”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.