Relieve

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈliːv/

Definitions

1. To ease or reduce pain, discomfort, stress, or burden, or to free someone from a duty or position
2. To lessen or alleviate suffering, stress, or obligations while providing comfort or release from an unfavorable situation
3. To mitigate pain, anxiety, or responsibilities and grant a sense of relief or freedom from an oppressive state

Etymology: The core idea of "relieve" is literally physical: lifting. Its Latin ancestor "relevo" combined "re-" (back) with "levo" (to lift), so to relieve something was to lift a load off it. The same lifting sense survives in the English word "relief" for raised sculpture, where the figures stand out from a flat background, and in the Latin root's cousin "levant," the lifting of the sun into the sky. The word reached English in Late Middle English, borrowed from Old French "relever," which kept the Latin sense of lifting up alongside lightening and easing. Through French, the idea of lifting a burden gradually became lifting a person's suffering, which is the sense we use today. Its relative "relevate," a doublet that entered English from the same Latin source, kept a closer grip on the literal lifting idea and is now rare.

Synonyms: alleviate, ease, soothe, calm, reduce

Antonyms: aggravate, intensify, exacerbate, worsen, increase