Definition

1. Noun:
   • A person who comforts: Someone who provides consolation, emotional support, or reassurance to another person.
   • A type of thick, warm bed covering: A quilted bed covering, typically filled with down, feathers, or synthetic fiber, used for warmth.
   • A pacifier for a baby: A device, often made of rubber or silicone, for an infant to suck on for comfort.
   • A long, warm scarf: A scarf worn around the neck for warmth, often covering the mouth.

Usage and Examples

• Person who comforts:
  • After the loss, she was a great comforter to her friend.
  • He acted as a comforter, offering kind words during the difficult time.
• Bed covering:
  • She pulled the fluffy comforter up to her chin on the cold night.
  • The bed was made with a thick down comforter.
• Pacifier:
  • The baby stopped crying when given her comforter.
  • He searched for the baby's comforter in the diaper bag.
• Scarf:
  • He wrapped a woolen comforter around his neck before going out in the snow.

Advanced Usage

• "To be someone's comforter": To take on the role of providing solace to a specific person.
  • In times of grief, he knew he had to be his sister's comforter.
• Figurative use for objects: An object that provides a sense of comfort or security.
  • The old, tattered blanket was her childhood comforter.

Variants and Related Words

• Comfort (verb/noun): To soothe or console; a state of physical ease or consolation.
• Comforting (adjective): Providing comfort.
• Comfortable (adjective): Providing physical ease and relaxation.

Synonyms

• Consoler: One who comforts.
• Quilt, Duvet: Types of bed coverings.
• Pacifier, Soother: A device for a baby to suck on.
• Scarf, Muffler: A neck wrap for warmth.

Related Phrases

• Comforter in chief: A humorous or informal title for someone who is the primary source of comfort in a group or family.
  • With her kind heart, she was the comforter in chief of the household.

Related Idioms

• A Job's comforter: Someone who, while pretending to offer comfort, actually adds to a person's distress by emphasizing the negative. (This idiom is based on the biblical figure Job, whose friends offered unhelpful counsel.)
  • Telling her "it could be worse" made him feel like a Job's comforter.

Noun

1. device used for an infant to suck or bite on
2. bedding made of two layers of cloth filled with stuffing and stitched together
3. a person who reduces the intensity (e.g., of fears) and calms and pacifies
   • a reliever of anxiety
   • an allayer of fears
4. commiserates with someone who has had misfortune