mellow

Mr. Day’s lushly orchestrated score, sweetly tonal throughout and full of harp riffs, is paced with a mellow sameness that even the frequent big climaxes can’t jolt into dramatic excitement or dangerous energy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

We can hardly allow substantive issues to become more pressing while waiting for Xi to mellow or be replaced.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026

There’s its flavor profile, which is sharp and pungent when consumed raw yet mellow, nutty and almost buttery when cooked down.

From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026

Over time, "you mellow, build networks and take what you can", often in the private sector.

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026

He called us naive firebrands, adding that we would mellow with age.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

The inner fire and determination remain, but he is mellower, more mature these days.

From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2026

They were considerably mellower than the originals—we got a taste of what those might have been like from a brief preview set performed by the blues guitarist and singer Memphis Gold.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025

Somehow, they managed to produce a multiplatinum album with a mellower and more accessible sound, including the upbeat instrumental “Jessica,” which later won a Grammy Award.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2023

She’s the mellower, more successful envy of Williams’ character, and yet kind of a regular companion.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 23, 2022

Quackenbush felt mellower by the end of the afternoon as we stood on the float in front of the Crew House, gathering up towels.

From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles

Often when I cook shrimp, they’re the sweetest, mellowest elements on the plate, sharpened by the likes of garlic and lemon.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 22, 2022

Even the mellowest teens are raging against the pandemic quarantine.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 23, 2020

Koenig, who carries himself like the mellowest dude at a black-tie event, doesn’t mind if a listener takes something real in his lyrics for something imagined.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2019

“Music After the Fall,” like the blog, addresses a vast range of music, from the gnarliest experimentalism to the mellowest minimalism, and Rutherford-Johnson applies a critical intelligence that is at once rigorous and generous.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 20, 2018

I say, but the master-at-arms seems to be ignoring me now, so I direct the question to the skull with a rose in its mouth, figuring it might be the mellowest one.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

And Joq is genuinely fascinated by the way hickory smoke mellows and rounds out a pungent blue cheese.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025

"Can y'all come straighten it up over here? It's not looking luxurious," Sean "Diddy" Combs says in a voice note to his personal assistants as R&B music mellows in the background.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2025

As the garden mellows and dies down, potted plants take center stage with their fresh foliage and seasonal shadings.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 16, 2023

Chopped basil leaves are added to the freshly cooked chicken, which mellows the herb’s flavor as the leaves gently wilt while we cook sugar snap peas.

From Washington Times ● May 2, 2023

The patina of time gathers upon them and mellows them and makes me realize they belong to the past—the past with its pain and its joy, that can never come back to mortal mothers again.

From The Prairie Child by Ward. E. F. (Edmund Franklin)

His views had mellowed by the time he took charge of that “historic disaster” with its awesome control over money and banks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

Now it has mellowed on expectations that an agreement between the U.S. and Iran will reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026

Stern, who practically created the radio shock-jock format, has mellowed with age, focusing more on extended interviews.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 16, 2025

While it’s unlikely that Klodjan will be up for a statuette, the powers that be have mellowed to the idea of AI-generated music being worthy of praise.

From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2025

Even Helene Wright had mellowed with the cane, waving away apologies for drinks spilled on her rug and paying no attention whatever to the chocolate cake lying on the arm of her red-velvet sofa.

From "Sula" by Toni Morrison

“Dancing on the Ceiling” does the opposite, starting with very verbose Art Tatum-style arpeggios in the verse but then mellowing out in the chorus, and quoting “All This and Heaven Too.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

Their mellowing relationship is meant to mirror the growth of civil rights in the South.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2023

Though Harley and Ivy’s honeymoon phase is already beginning to wane as Harley Quinn’s third season opens, the mellowing of their relationship’s something the series never really frames as a sign of danger.

From The Verge ● Jul. 27, 2022

For one thing, Pete himself has become a far more interesting protagonist, losing the cocky air of petulance and impunity and mellowing into a man with some miles on him.

From Washington Post ● May 24, 2022

It was something about her lately, a mellowing, a softening from which this note had come.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie