reassuring

reassuring — adjective

1. making you feel calmer and more confident by reducing fear or doubt about a situ

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

making you feel calmer and more confident by reducing fear or doubt about a situation

Example

Nellie's reassuring smile helped her son feel calm before the school play.

attributive use: reassuring + noun (smile)

It was reassuring to hear the pilot say the storm had passed the airport.

Common collocations
  • a reassuring smile
  • a reassuring voice / tone
  • reassuring news
  • a reassuring presence
  • reassuring words
  • strangely / oddly reassuring
Synonyms
  • comforting

    More personal and emotional; suggests gentle, warm relief rather than confidence-building

  • soothing

    Focuses on calming physical or emotional pain; less about doubt/fear and more about agitation

  • encouraging

    Emphasises giving hope or motivation for the future, not just removing worry

  • heartening

    Slightly more formal and less common; suggests something lifts your spirits

Antonyms
  • alarming

    Direct opposite — causing fear or worry rather than reducing it

  • worrying

    More general; focuses on causing anxiety about a potential problem

  • unsettling

    Describes something that disturbs your sense of stability or comfort

Grammar Patterns

reassuring + noun

it is reassuring + to-infinitive

it is reassuring + that-clause

find + object + reassuring

Usage Note

Commonly used in two positions: attributively before nouns that describe communication or expression (smile, voice, words, tone, nod), and predicatively with an impersonal 'it' structure (It is reassuring to know that…). For describing how a person feels, use the past participle 'reassured' (e.g. I felt reassured, not I felt reassuring).

Common Mistakes

The news sounds very reassure.
The news sounds very reassuring.
'reassure' is a verb; the adjective form is 'reassuring'.
I felt very reassuring after the doctor called.
I felt very reassured after the doctor called.
use 'reassured' for describing a person's own feeling; 'reassuring' describes the thing or situation that causes that feeling.

Word family

  • reassuringly
    adverbC1
  • reassure
    verbB2
  • reassurance
    nounB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe something that makes you feel better, but they differ in focus. Comforting is the closest to reassuring — it suggests warmth and emotional relief (a comforting hug), while reassuring is more about removing doubt or fear (reassuring test results). Soothing focuses on calming agitation or physical discomfort (soothing music, soothing cream). Encouraging is forward-looking — it gives you hope or motivation to act (encouraging feedback from a coach). Heartening is the most formal and least frequent; it describes something that lifts your spirits through good news or positive signs (heartening economic data). In everyday conversation, reassuring is the best choice for situations involving worry or uncertainty; comforting works better when someone is sad or grieving.

comforting ↗soothingencouraging ↗heartening

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • strangely reassuring
  • oddly reassuring
  • somehow reassuring
  • enormously reassuring

Phrases

  • find something reassuring
  • it is reassuring to know
  • a reassuring sign

Prepositions

  • reassuring to
  • reassuring for

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Formed from the verb 'reassure' (to restore confidence to someone) plus the adjective suffix '-ing'. The verb 'reassure' itself combines the prefix 're-' (again, intensifying) with 'assure' (to make certain or confident). 'Assure' came into English from Old French 'asseürer', which traces back to Latin 'ad-' (to) + 'securus' (secure, without worry). The adjective 'reassuring' began appearing in English in the early 1700s.