Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To make less severe or intense; mitigate. synonym: relieve.
- transitive verb To alleviate the symptoms of (a disease or disorder).
- transitive verb To make (an offense or crime) seem less serious; extenuate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To cover with a cloak; clothe.
- To hide; conceal.
- To cover or conceal; excuse or extenuate; soften or tone down by pleading or urging extenuating circumstances, or by favorable representations: as, to
palliate faults or a crime. - To reduce in violence; mitigate; lessen or abate: as, to
palliate a disease. - Eased; mitigated.
- In zoology, having a pallium; of or pertaining to the Palliata; tectibranchiate.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete Covered with a mantle; cloaked; hidden; disguised.
- adjective obsolete Eased; mitigated; alleviated.
- transitive verb obsolete To cover with a mantle or cloak; to cover up; to hide.
- transitive verb To cover with excuses; to conceal the enormity of, by excuses and apologies; to extenuate.
- transitive verb To reduce in violence; to lessen or abate; to mitigate; to ease without curing.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of
- verb provide physical relief, as from pain
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The word palliate comes from the Latin palliare, “to cloak”—and providing pain relief was perceived as cloaking the essence of the illness, smothering symptoms rather than attacking disease.
The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010
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The word palliate comes from the Latin palliare, “to cloak”—and providing pain relief was perceived as cloaking the essence of the illness, smothering symptoms rather than attacking disease.
The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010
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The word palliate comes from the Latin palliare, “to cloak”—and providing pain relief was perceived as cloaking the essence of the illness, smothering symptoms rather than attacking disease.
The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010
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Better to bring the cyst of Islamofascism/terrorism/whatever to the surface through provocation where it can be lanced, no matter how painful that may be in the short term, than to palliate its symptoms through appeasement while letting it fester beneath the surface (with many things like not-torturing-people being appeasement).
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He did not disguise it to himself, nor attempt to palliate it.
Chapter 27 2010
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Both are exceedingly gifted individuals with enviable human qualities; both were once cherished friends to me; and both, I think, use rage and spite to palliate their unhealed wounds.
Archive 2009-12-01 2009
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With mid-term elections on the horizon and the influence of former president Lula sidetracked by treatment to palliate his larengyal cancer, Brazil's latest political carnival could find William Waack at the front of the parade.
Eric Ehrmann: Brazil Springs A WikiLeak... Assange Tags Newsman As Media Mole Eric Ehrmann 2011
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Second we will be adding a soothing side of a Velcro to a behind side of a shade, as good as third good palliate in a generosity a bit for a shade to fit upon a batten.
Screwdriver Cordless YouTube Bosch GSR 10.8 V-LI Cordless ... admin 2009
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That being said, the monthly paperback column does palliate this a bit.
Catherine McKenzie: Ron Charles Talks Totally Hip Book Reviews and More Catherine McKenzie 2010
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"It's a hard trail, Liverpool, and only the men that are hard will get through," Charles strove to palliate.
Telofy commented on the word palliate
“His arm and ankle seemed more painful than ever; he told himself firmly that it was only because the palliating effects of the drug Crane had given him the night before—and of the potent drinks he had imprudently sampled—had worn off.”
—Gene Wolfe, The Book of the Long Sun
August 5, 2009