Comforted

Comforted is the past tense and past participle of the verb comfort. It describes the act of alleviating distress or providing solace to someone.

Etymology: The word derives from Old French conforter, from Latin confortare, meaning to make strong or encourage. The sense has long encompassed both emotional reassurance and physical ease.

Usage: It is used as a transitive verb: “She comforted her friend after the loss.” It can also take a passive construction: “The family was comforted by the news.” The term covers a range of comforting actions, from offering words of encouragement to providing empathetic support. Common collocations include be comforted by, comforted himself, and comforted emotions.

Related terms: comfort (n. and v.), comforting (present participle), and comforter. A comforter can refer to a person who provides solace or, in bedding, a thick bed covering. The past participle form, comforted, generally functions in sentences as a finite verb or as part of a passive construction rather than as a standalone adjective.

Context: In prose and poetry, comforted may describe acts of consolation within personal relationships, caregiving contexts, or responses to adversity. There are no widely recognized works primarily titled “Comforted,” though the term may appear within titles or passages as a verb in past tense.