SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS

palliative

adjective

Easing the effects or severity of a problem without necessarily removing its cause.

Compare the alternatives Definition and examples

Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.

Easing effects

Closest synonyms

alleviating relieving mitigating soothing alleviative lenitive

Related words and expressions

These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.

Usage distinction

Palliative concerns relief of effects. This vocabulary sense does not by itself describe prognosis or whether other treatment is given.

Return to top

Test this word in the Comprehensive Synonym Exam

CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT

See palliative in use

A temporary grant was a palliative measure while the museum sought stable funding.

Dictionary practice example.

Offering chairs was a palliative response to the long check-in queue, easing the discomfort of waiting without fixing the slow registration process.

From Words for Relief and Disturbance.

Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.

Synonym reference scope and sources

The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.

How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license

Back to synonym results Open this word's definition Both dictionaries

Return to top