calm

• calme (obsolete)

From Middle English calm, calme, from Middle French calme, probably from Old Italian calma, of uncertain origin. Calma may derive from Late Latin cauma (“heat of the midday sun”), from Ancient Greek καῦμα (kaûma, “heat, especially of the sun”), from καίω (kaíō, “I burn”), or possibly from Latin caleō. Compare also Lombardic *chalm, *chalma (“frozenness”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kalmaz (“frozenness, cold”).

Displaced native Middle English smilte (“quiet, still, gentle”) from Old English smylte (“quiet, tranquil, calm, serene”).

• (England, Wales) IPA^(key): /kɑːm/,
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /kaːm/,
• (US) IPA^(key): /kɑm/, /kɑlm/, /kɔlm/, (archaic) /kæm/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): , ,
• (Ireland, Scotland) IPA^(key): /kam/
• (nonstandard, now chiefly dialectal) IPA^(key): /kaɹm/
• Rhymes: -ɑːm, -ɑːlm, -ɔːlm, -ɔːm, -æm

calm (comparative calmer or more calm, superlative calmest or most calm)

1. (of a person) Peaceful, quiet, especially free from anger and anxiety.

   Antonyms: stressed, nervous, anxious

2. (of a place or situation) Free of noise and disturbance.

   Antonym: disturbed

   • 1850, , “Canto XI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC:

     Calm is the morn without a sound,
     ⁠Calm as to suit a calmer grief,
     ⁠And only thro’ the faded leaf
     The chestnut pattering to the ground:

3. (of water) with few or no waves on the surface; not rippled.
4. (of weather) Without wind or storm.

   Antonyms: windy, stormy

Although a place or environment that makes one calm is usually called calm, a thing that makes one calm (such as a film, a beverage, or someone's voice) would not be called calm; instead, it would be called calming.

• See also Thesaurus:calm

calm (countable and uncountable, plural calms)

1. (in a person) The state of being calm; peacefulness; absence of worry, anger, fear or other strong negative emotion.
   • 1850, , “Canto XI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC:

     Calm on the seas, and silver sleep,
     ⁠And waves that sway themselves in rest,
     ⁠And dead calm in that noble breast
     Which heaves but with the heaving deep.

2. (in a place or situation) The state of being calm; absence of noise and disturbance.
3. A period of time without wind.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Mark 4:39:

     The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 64, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 324:

     It was a calm ; so, forming a tandem of three boats, we commenced the slow business of towing the trophy to the Pequod.

• See also Thesaurus:calmness

calm (third-person singular simple present calms, present participle calming, simple past and past participle calmed)

1. (transitive) To make calm.

   to calm a crying baby

   to calm the passions

   • 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

     to calm the tempest raised by Aeolus

2. (intransitive) To become calm.

• allay, appease, calm down, cool off, ease, pacify, quieten, soothe, subdue

• agitate
• excite

• ALCM, CAML, CLAM, Caml, Malc, clam

From calma, probably in imitation of French calme (adjective) and Spanish calmo.

calm (feminine calma, masculine plural calms, feminine plural calmes)

1. calm

• calma
• calmar

calm

1. alternative form of calme

calm

1. alternative form of calme

Borrowed from French calme.

• Audio:

  (file)

calm n (plural calmuri)

1. composure (calmness of mind or matter, self-possession)

• calma