Meanings
present singular third person alleviates · participle present alleviating · participle past alleviated · past alleviated
- transitiveTo reduce or lessen the severity of a pain or difficulty.
alleviate his pain
2 more examples
Alcohol is often a cheap tool to alleviate the stress of a hard day.
Nine months before she was taken in October 1994, Jodi was out jogging in Mason City before realizing she was being trailed. […] To alleviate her rising anxiety over the jogging incident, Jodi enrolled in a self-defense and martial arts class.
2026 August 10, Nicholas Muhoro, “Jodi Huisentruit, 27, Vanished From Her Apartment Parking Lot in 1995. Police Found Signs of a Struggle”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2026Synonyms: address, allay, ameliorate, assuage, ease, mitigate, quell, relieve · Antonyms: aggravate, exacerbate, intensify
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo reduce or lessen the severity of a pain or difficulty.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latinalleviatus
- Englishalleviate
Borrowed from Late Latin alleviatus, past participle of alleviāre (“to lighten; to alleviate”). By surface analysis, al- + Latin lev- + -i- + -ate.
More words from Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic خَفَّفَ, لَطَّفَ
- خَفَّفَ (ḵaffafa)make less severe
- لَطَّفَ (laṭṭafa)make less severe
- سَكَّنَ (sakkana)make less severe
Bengali উপশম
- উপশম (upośom)make less severe
Bulgarian облекча́вам, смекча́вам
- облекча́вам (oblekčávam)make less severe
- смекча́вам (smekčávam)make less severe
Catalan mitigar, pal·liar
- mitigarmake less severe
- pal·liarmake less severe
Chinese Mandarin 舒緩 /舒缓, 緩解 /缓解
- 舒緩 /舒缓 (shūhuǎn)make less severe
- 緩解 /缓解 (huǎnjiě)make less severe
- 緩和 /缓和 (huǎnhé)make less severe
- 減輕 /减轻 (jiǎnqīng)make less severe
Danish lindre, mildne
- lindremake less severe
- mildnemake less severe
- hjælpe påmake less severe
- lettemake less severe
- dulmemake less severe
- tage brodden afmake less severe
Dutch milderen, temperen
- milderenmake less severe
- temperenmake less severe
- verlichtenmake less severe
- verzachtenmake less severe
Esperanto mildigi, moderigi
- mildigimake less severe
- moderigimake less severe
Estonian kergendama, leevendama
- kergendamamake less severe
- leevendamamake less severe
Finnish helpottaa, lievittää
- helpottaamake less severe
- lievittäämake less severe
French adoucir, calmer
- adoucirmake less severe
- calmermake less severe
- soulagermake less severe
- allégermake less severe
- réduiremake less severe
German mildern, lindern
- mildernmake less severe
- lindernmake less severe
- abschwächenmake less severe
Greek ανακουφίζω, καταπραΰνω
- ανακουφίζω (anakoufízo)make less severe
- καταπραΰνω (katapraÿ́no)make less severe
Hebrew הֵקֵל
- הֵקֵל (hekél)make less severe
Hungarian enyhít, csillapít
- enyhítmake less severe
- csillapítmake less severe
Icelandic létta
- léttamake less severe
Latin lēniō
- lēniōmake less severe
Norwegian lindre
- lindremake less severe
Polish ulżyć, koić
- ulżyćmake less severe
- koićmake less severe
- ukoićmake less severe
- łagodzićmake less severe
- złagodzićmake less severe
Portuguese aliviar
- aliviarmake less severe
Romanian ușura, alina
- ușuramake less severe
- alinamake less severe
- calmamake less severe
Russian облегча́ть, смягча́ть
- облегча́ть (oblexčátʹ)make less severe
- смягча́ть (smjaxčátʹ)make less severe
- уменьша́ть (umenʹšátʹ)make less severe
- снима́ть (snimátʹ)make less severe
Scottish Gaelic aotromaich
- aotromaichmake less severe
Spanish aliviar, aleviar
- aliviarmake less severe
- aleviarmake less severe
Swedish lindra, mildra
- lindramake less severe
- mildramake less severe
- avhjälpamake less severe
Thai บรรเทา, เปลื้อง
- บรรเทา (ban-tao)make less severe
- เปลื้อง (bplʉ̂ʉang)make less severe
- ปลดเปลื้องmake less severe
Turkish azaltmak, dindirmek
- azaltmakmake less severe
- dindirmekmake less severe
- hafifletmekmake less severe
Ukrainian поле́гшувати, пом'я́кшувати
- поле́гшувати (poléhšuvaty)make less severe
- пом'я́кшувати (pomʺjákšuvaty)make less severe
Yiddish אױפֿמונטערן, לינדערן
- אױפֿמונטערן (oyfmuntern)make less severe
- לינדערן (lindern)make less severe
- פֿאַרלײַכֿטערן (farlaykhtern)make less severe
- פֿאַרגרינגערן (fargringern)make less severe
- מילדערן (mildern)make less severe
Cite this entry
alleviate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alleviate
“alleviate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alleviate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “alleviate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alleviate.
Source: alleviate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.