noun
massage
MA-sahzh
noun
1
The act of rubbing or kneading someone's body to relax muscles or relieve tension.
"She booked a massage after the long flight."
"A shoulder massage helped ease his tension headache."
verb
1
To rub and knead someone's body, or a body part, to relax or soothe it.
"He massaged her sore feet after the hike."
2
To adjust data or figures to make them look more favourable, sometimes dishonestly.
"The report was accused of massaging the unemployment numbers."
How to Use Massage
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe physical act of kneading muscles, or figuratively, tweaking data to look better.
Common mistake
"Massage the figures" implies subtly manipulating data, often with a dishonest undertone — don't use it for neutral data cleanup.
Common pairings
deep tissue massage
massage the numbers
a back massage
Word Forms
massaged past tense, massages plural, massages singular
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She booked a _____ after the long flight.
Etymology
From French massage, from masser, "to massage," possibly borrowed from Arabic massa, "to touch," or from Portuguese amassar.