verb

alleviate

uh-LEE-vee-ayt

verb

To make pain, suffering, or a problem less severe.

"The medication helped alleviate her back pain."

"New housing schemes are meant to alleviate the shortage of affordable homes."

How to Use Alleviate

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishTo ease something bad — pain, pressure, a shortage — without necessarily curing it completely.

Common mistake

Alleviate reduces a problem; it does not mean to solve it completely — a headache pill alleviates pain, it doesn't cure the underlying cause.

Common pairings

alleviate pain alleviate poverty alleviate pressure alleviate symptoms

alleviated past tense, alleviates singular

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Can you complete this real example?

The medication helped _____ her back pain.

From Late Latin alleviare, "to lighten," built from levis, meaning "light" (as in not heavy) — the same root that gives us "levity" and "elevate."

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