1
Core action
Make pain, difficulty, shortage, or an undesirable condition less severe.
Example
Additional buses may alleviate congestion.
alleviate
/əˈliːvieɪt/ · uh-LEE-vee-aytverb
Make pain, difficulty, shortage, or an undesirable condition less severe.
Use alleviate to express this relationship precisely: make pain, difficulty, shortage, or an undesirable condition less severe.
What alleviate Really Means
The word becomes easier to use when its closely related senses are separated and compared.
2
Common construction
Use this expression in its normal grammatical frame so the relationship between the surrounding ideas remains explicit.
Example
The treatment alleviated pain without curing the disease.
3
Reasoning effect
It tells the reader how to interpret the timing, scope, evidence, contrast, condition, or consequence in the statement.
Example
Emergency imports helped alleviate the shortage.
Use alleviate Naturally
Notice how the surrounding noun or clause reveals the exact shade of meaning.
Additional buses may alleviate congestion.
The treatment alleviated pain without curing the disease.
Emergency imports helped alleviate the shortage.
Precision Matters
Alleviate overlaps with several common words, but each carries a different emphasis.
alleviate
vs.Means make pain, difficulty, shortage, or an undesirable condition less severe.
mitigate
Means make something harmful or severe less serious.
alleviate
vs.Means make pain, difficulty, shortage, or an undesirable condition less severe.
exacerbate
Means to make a problem, condition, or inequality worse.
alleviate
vs.Means make pain, difficulty, shortage, or an undesirable condition less severe.
deleterious
Means causing harm, damage, or an undesirable effect.
alleviate
vs.Means make pain, difficulty, shortage, or an undesirable condition less severe.
conducive
Means making a particular outcome likely, possible, or easier to achieve.
Test alleviate in Context
The action makes the burden less severe.
1
Opening a second clinic should ___ pressure on the overcrowded hospital.