Alleviate
[ə'liːvɪeɪt] or [ə'livɪ'et]
Definition
(v. t.) To lighten or lessen the force or weight of.
(v. t.) To lighten or lessen (physical or mental troubles); to mitigate, or make easier to be endured; as, to alleviate sorrow, pain, care, etc. ; -- opposed to aggravate.
(v. t.) To extenuate; to palliate.
Typist: Richard
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Lighten, mitigate, assuage, moderate, soothe, soften, mollify, allay, quiet, still, quell, abate, lessen, diminish, relieve, palliate, ease, dull, blunt.
Edited by Edward
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Lighten, lessen, assuage, mitigate, soothe, moderate, relieve, remit, diminish
ANT:Aggravate, enhance, increase, embitter, augment
Inputed by Carter
Definition
v.t. to make light: to mitigate.—ns. Alleviā′tion; Allev′iātor.
Checker: Nellie
Examples
- Her theme was their wants, which she sought to supply; their sufferings, which she longed to alleviate. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- We can only delay its progress--alleviate the pain it causes. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- If Idris became thin and pale, it was anxiety that occasioned the change; an anxiety I could in no way alleviate. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Why, then, should I pass the rest of my days in torture when I can alleviate such mental suffering? Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- It may be that if we knew more of such strange afflictions we might be the better able to alleviate their intensity. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- I replied, that nothing ailed me save anxiety of mind, which I hoped soon to alleviate. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- May seemed to be aware of his disappointment, but without knowing how to alleviate it; and they stood up and walked silently home. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- I never lie down at night but I know that in the course of that day he has alleviated pain and soothed some fellow-creature in the time of need. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Have they alleviated the poverty, have they promoted the industry, of those two beggarly countries? Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Regretting that all my efforts for alleviating the sufferings of wounded men left upon the battle-field have been rendered nugatory, I remain, &c. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- The home electrical is not complete without containing at least some of the electrical appliances which have been designed for the purpose of alleviating pain. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- In other countries, the system of taxation, instead of alleviating, aggravates this inequality. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Editor: Priscilla