Relieve - English meaning

verb

Diminish or put at rest (fear, suspicion, or worry).

Usage examples:

The report attempted to educate the public and allay fears

verb

To make a negative emotion less strong or a problem less difficult

Usage examples:

I was nervous, but seeing her allayed my fears.

verb

If you allay a strong emotion felt by someone, such as fear or worry, you cause them to feel it less or to feel calm again

Usage examples:

The government is trying to allay public fears/concern about the spread of the disease.

verb

Make (suffering, deficiency, or a problem) less severe.

Usage examples:

He couldn't prevent her pain, only alleviate it

verb

To make pain or problems less severe

Usage examples:

The medicine did nothing to alleviate her discomfort.

verb

To make something bad such as pain or problems less severe

Usage examples:

The drugs did nothing to alleviate her pain/suffering.

verb

Pacify or placate (someone) by acceding to their demands.

Usage examples:

Amendments have been added to appease local pressure groups

verb

To prevent further disagreement or fighting by letting the opposing side have something that they want

Usage examples:

He was a crucial ally who the country needed to appease., they were given a small pay rise but this…

verb

To get rid of unpleasant feelings or make them less strong

Usage examples:

We try to appease our guilty consciences by making donations to charity., his resignation did littl…

verb

Make (an unpleasant feeling) less intense.

Usage examples:

The letter assuaged the fears of most members

verb

To make unpleasant feelings less strong

Usage examples:

The government has tried to assuage the public's fears.

phrasal verb

Break or cause to break into pieces

phrasal verb

(of a telephone conversation) to become impossible to understand because the connection is not strong enough

Usage examples:

He was on the subway when he called and started to break up before i could answer., the company has…

phrasal verb

To divide, or to divide something, into smaller parts

Usage examples:

The company has been broken up and sold off., manufacturing ceased at the factory when the original…

verb

Make or become more light.

Usage examples:

Most of the country should brighten up later

verb

Make lighter or brighter

verb

To become or make something lighter

Usage examples:

[ i ] the lights dimmed, then brightened., [ m ] betty painted the room white to brighten it up., […

phrase

To make something finish

Usage examples:

He ran out of time and brought the interview to an end., we will have to use economic and military …

verb

Act against (something) in order to reduce its force or neutralize it.

Usage examples:

Should we deliberately intervene in the climate system to counteract global warming?

verb

To reduce or remove the effect of something by producing an opposite effect

Usage examples:

The tax must be adjusted upward to counteract inflation.

verb

To take action to reduce the influence of something that may be harmful

Usage examples:

Spending on marketing and advertising has increased in order to counteract falling sales., these ne…

phrasal verb

Provide an excuse or alibi for someone so as to cover up guilt

phrasal verb

To provide an excuse for someone, or an explanation for something that has gone wrong

Usage examples:

She would cover for her brothers when they came in late.

verb

Relieve (a person or animal) of the symptoms of a disease or condition.

Usage examples:

He was cured of the disease

noun

A substance or treatment that cures a disease or condition.

Usage examples:

The search for a cure for the common cold

noun

A parish priest in a french-speaking country.

Usage examples:

The curé, after all, was an important figure in every village

verb

Discharge faeces from the body.

Usage examples:

In this story, the first sago came from inside a man's body who defecated and the sago fell to the …

verb

To excrete the contents of the bowels

verb

To pass the contents of the bowels out of the body

verb

Make or become less.

Usage examples:

The new law is expected to diminish the government's chances

verb

To reduce or be reduced in size or importance

Usage examples:

[ i ] the threat of inflation is diminishing., [ t ] a single-payer system would diminish the burea…

verb

To reduce or be reduced in size, importance, or value

Usage examples:

If consumers start losing confidence, it will diminish demand for household goods., investors can d…

verb

Make (a doubt, feeling, or belief) disappear.

Usage examples:

The brightness of the day did nothing to dispel elaine's dejection

verb

To remove fears, doubts, or false ideas, usually by proving them wrong or unnecessary

Usage examples:

We need to dispel the myths and establish real facts.

verb

To remove fears, doubts, and false ideas, usually by proving them wrong or unnecessary

Usage examples:

I'd like to start the speech by dispelling a few rumours that have been spreading recently.

adjective

Lacking interest or excitement.

Usage examples:

Your diet doesn't have to be dull and boring

verb

Make or become dull or less intense.

Usage examples:

Time dulls the memory

adjective

Not interesting or exciting; boring

Usage examples:

Many of the courtroom events were dull and routine., the lecture was dry, dull, and full of statist…

noun

Absence of difficulty or effort.

Usage examples:

She gave up smoking with ease

verb

Make (something unpleasant or intense) less serious or severe.

Usage examples:

A huge road-building programme to ease congestion

verb

Freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort

verb

(of a living organism or cell) separate and expel as waste (a substance, especially a product of metabolism).

Usage examples:

Excess bicarbonate is excreted by the kidney

verb

To get rid of material such as solid waste or urine from the body

Usage examples:

Be excreted from most toxins are naturally excreted from the body.

phrase

To empty the body of urine or solid waste, usually using a toilet to do so

Usage examples:

It's going to be a long drive, kids, so if you want to go to the toilet, do so now., i really need …

verb

Stop the continuous progress of (an activity or process).

Usage examples:

The buzzer interrupted his thoughts

verb

To stop someone from speaking by saying or doing something, or to cause an activity or event to stop briefly

Usage examples:

[ i ] please don’t interrupt until i’m finished., [ t ] the picnic was interrupted by a rain shower…

verb

Make or become less; diminish.

Usage examples:

The years have lessened the gap in age between us

verb

To become or make something smaller in amount or degree

Usage examples:

[ t ] keeping your weight down can lessen the risk of heart disease.

verb

To make something smaller, less noticeable, etc., or to become smaller, less noticeable, etc.

Usage examples:

Corporate executives are keen to embrace "green technology" in order to lessen their dependence on …

idiom

Grant exemption or release to

phrasal verb

Punish someone lightly or not at all for a misdemeanour or offence.

Usage examples:

He was let off with a caution

phrasal verb

Cause a gun, firework, or bomb to fire or explode.

Usage examples:

Thousands of fireworks were let off in the castle grounds at the stroke of midnight to mark the sta…

verb

Make or become lighter in weight, pressure, or severity.

Usage examples:

Efforts to lighten the burden of regulation

verb

Make or become lighter or brighter.

Usage examples:

The sky began to lighten in the east

verb

To make someone or become happier and less anxious

Usage examples:

Being with friends lightened her mood., he lost 30 pounds to lighten the burden on his knee., to li…

verb

Make (something bad) less severe, serious, or painful.

Usage examples:

Drainage schemes have helped to mitigate this problem

verb

To make something less severe or less unpleasant

Usage examples:

Getting a lot of sleep and drinking plenty of fluids can mitigate the effects of the flu.

verb

To make something less harmful, unpleasant, or bad

Usage examples:

Technologies that can mitigate global warming, mitigate damage/risk the company was criticized for …

verb

Make (a disease or its symptoms) less severe without removing the cause.

Usage examples:

Treatment works by palliating symptoms

verb

To reduce the bad effects of something

Usage examples:

They tried to palliate the hardship of their lives., the drugs palliate pain but have no effect on …

verb

Keep (something) from happening.

Usage examples:

Action must be taken to prevent further accidents

verb

To stop something from happening or someone from doing something

Usage examples:

The police tried to prevent him from leaving., can this type of accident be prevented?, fortunately…

verb

Insert punctuation marks in (text).

Usage examples:

They should be shown how to set out and punctuate direct speech

verb

Make smaller or less in amount, degree, or size.

Usage examples:

The need for businesses to reduce costs

verb

Make smaller

verb

To make something less in size, amount, degree, importance, or price

Usage examples:

A low-fat diet can reduce the risk of heart disease., grunn employs 17,900 people, but that number …

verb

Take the place of.

Usage examples:

Ian's smile was replaced by a frown

verb

To take the place of something or put in the place of something or someone else

Usage examples:

We replaced our old air conditioners., the ailing actress was replaced by her understudy., after du…

verb

To take the place of something or someone else

Usage examples:

The single farm payment will replace all subsidy schemes in january., four people have left the da'…

verb

Make or become soft or softer.

Usage examples:

Plant extracts to soften and moisturize the skin

verb

To become gentle, or to make something less forceful or loud

Usage examples:

[ t ] he made an effort to soften his tone., congress will move to soften the law’s impact., [ i ] …

verb

If demand, a price, a market, etc. softens, it stops increasing or it goes down

Usage examples:

Share prices softened with continued worries about the country's economic recovery., although deman…

verb

Gently calm (a person or their feelings).

Usage examples:

A shot of brandy might soothe his nerves

verb

To cause someone to be less upset or angry, or to cause something to hurt less

Usage examples:

I picked up the crying child and tried to soothe her., a soothing ointment for sunburn

verb

(of an event, action, or process) come to an end; cease to happen.

Usage examples:

His laughter stopped as quickly as it had begun

noun

A cessation of movement or operation.

Usage examples:

All business came to a stop

verb

Have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense

verb

Make or become sweet or sweeter, especially in taste.

Usage examples:

A cup of coffee sweetened with saccharin

verb

To make something taste sweet

Usage examples:

Sweeten the nut bread by adding dried fruit., infml if they want to settle the strike, the owners s…

verb

To make something more attractive and acceptable

Usage examples:

Sweeten the deal/bid/offer, the city had tried to sweeten the deal with a $140 million package., th…

phrase

To be used instead of someone or something

Usage examples:

These portable machines can take the place of your desktop pc., virtual reality should never take t…

verb

Discharge urine; pass water.

Usage examples:

Encourage your child to relax when she urinates so no urine is left in the bladder.

verb

To excrete urine

verb

Differ in size, amount, degree, or nature from something else of the same general class.

Usage examples:

The properties vary in price