reassuring

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹiːəˈʃɔːɹɪŋ/

reassuring

1. present participle and gerund of reassure

reassuring (comparative more reassuring, superlative most reassuring)

1. That reassures; causing or restoring comfort or confidence.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […] .

   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 95:

     It was reassuring to be back in the regent's warm embrace.

   • 2024 October 30, Andy Comfort, “Can the Royal Mail trains keep on running?”, in RAIL, number 1021, page 61:

     The manifesto talks of safeguards to ensure that freight operators receive fair access to the network. These may be reassuring words for the likes of DB Cargo, but the devil will be in the detail and freight operators will no doubt be pressing for that detail to include cheaper electricity and access charges.

reassuring (plural reassurings)

1. reassurance
   • 1900, Mark Twain, The Belated Russian Passport:

     Alfred trembled, and felt a great sinking inside, but he did what he could to conceal his misery, and to respond with some show of heart to the Major's kindly pettings and reassurings.