palliative

adjective
UK: /ˈpæliətɪv/
US: /ˈpæliˌeɪtɪv/

  1. Reducing the severity of something without removing the cause.

    1. The doctor gave him palliative care to ease his pain.
    2. While a cure remains elusive, palliative measures offer some relief from the disease's symptoms.

Synonyms

soothing balm
palliative noun

  1. A treatment or medicine that reduces pain or the seriousness of a disease without actually curing it.

    1. The hospital offers palliative care for cancer patients.
    2. The new drug is a palliative, not a cure, so its effects are only temporary.
palliative transitive-verb

  1. To reduce the severity of (something).

    1. We need to palliative the tensions between the groups.
    2. The new regulations are meant to palliative some of the negative effects of the development.

Frequently Asked Questions

The phonetic transcription of "palliative" is /ˈpæliətɪv/ in British English and /ˈpæliˌeɪtɪv/ in American English. Click the 🔊 button to hear both pronunciations.

Synonyms for "palliative": soothing, balm.

Example usage of "palliative": "The doctor gave him palliative care to ease his pain.". More examples on the page.