comforted

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of comfort.

   He comforted the grieving family with a few quiet words of reassurance.

   The villagers were comforted by news that everyone had survived the flood.

   Note

   A regular verb, so one spelling does double duty. It is the simple past (she comforted him) and also the past participle, after have in the perfect (has comforted) or be in the passive (were comforted). Readers of older English should know the verb once also meant to strengthen or fortify, and to aid. In such texts comforted can mean braced or helped rather than consoled.

2. 2
   adjective

   Soothed and reassured; eased of grief or distress through kindness, sympathy, or caring attention.

   Comforted by the doctor's calm explanation, he stopped worrying about the results.

   She seemed comforted once the familiar voices of her old friends surrounded her.

   Similarcalmed, relieved

   Oppositedistressed, upset, troubled, alarmed

   Note

   The point where the verb's participle becomes a description of a settled state. The clearest sign is degree: speakers grade it as very comforted, more comforted, most comforted, which marks it as an adjective. Sapolsky's Behave (2017) has people "more comforted by structure and hierarchy." There the line with the past participle blurs, because the by-phrase still names what did the comforting.

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