Link Centre Dictionary

palliate

pal·liate

UK/ˈpælieɪt/ US/ˈpæliət/ uncommon obsolete rare

verb

1.

lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of

  • “The circumstances extenuate the crime”
Synonyms
2.

provide physical relief, as from pain

  • “This pill will relieve your headaches”
Synonyms

Origin

The verb was inherited from Middle English palliaten (“To palliate (a disease), relieve the symptoms of (a patient); to extenuate (an offense); to conceal, hide”), the adjective and participle from its participle palliat(e); further borrowed either from Middle French pallier or directly from Latin palliātus, perfect passive participle of palliō (“to cover with a cloak”)), from pallium (“a cloak”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.