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View synonyms for ease

ease

[ eez ]

noun

  1. freedom from labor, pain, or physical annoyance; tranquil rest; comfort:

    to enjoy one's ease.

    Synonyms: effortlessness, contentment, repose

    Antonyms: effort, discomfort

  2. freedom from concern, anxiety, or solicitude; a quiet state of mind:

    to be at ease about one's health.

    Synonyms: calmness, peace, serenity, tranquility

    Antonyms: disturbance

  3. freedom from difficulty or great effort; facility:

    It can be done with ease.

  4. freedom from financial need; plenty:

    a life of ease on a moderate income.

  5. freedom from stiffness, constraint, or formality; unaffectedness:

    ease of manner;

    the ease and elegance of her poetry.

    Synonyms: naturalness, informality

    Antonyms: tenseness, stiffness, formality



verb (used with object)

, eased, eas·ing.
  1. to free from anxiety or care:

    to ease one's mind.

    Synonyms: soothe, tranquilize, disburden, relieve, comfort

  2. to mitigate, lighten, or lessen:

    to ease pain.

    Synonyms: reduce, abate, allay, assuage, alleviate

  3. to release from pressure, tension, or the like.
  4. to move or shift with great care:

    to ease a car into a narrow parking space.

  5. to render less difficult; facilitate:

    I'll help if it will ease your job.

  6. to provide (an architectural member) with an easement.
  7. Shipbuilding. to trim (a timber of a wooden hull) so as to fair its surface into the desired form of the hull.
  8. Nautical.
    1. to bring (the helm or rudder of a vessel) slowly amidships.
    2. to bring the head of (a vessel) into the wind.
    3. to slacken or lessen the hold upon (a rope).
    4. to lessen the hold of (the brake of a windlass).

verb (used without object)

, eased, eas·ing.
  1. to abate in severity, pressure, tension, etc. (often followed by off or up ).
  2. to become less painful, burdensome, etc.
  3. to move, shift, or be moved or be shifted with great care.

verb phrase

  1. to remove from a position of authority, a job, or the like, especially by methods intended to be tactful:

    He was eased out as division head to make way for the boss's nephew.

ease

/ iːz /

noun

  1. freedom from discomfort, worry, or anxiety
  2. lack of difficulty, labour, or awkwardness; facility
  3. rest, leisure, or relaxation
  4. freedom from poverty or financial embarrassment; affluence

    a life of ease

  5. lack of restraint, embarrassment, or stiffness

    his ease of manner disarmed us

  6. at ease
    at ease military
    1. (of a standing soldier, etc) in a relaxed position with the feet apart and hands linked behind the back
    2. a command to adopt such a position
    3. in a relaxed attitude or frame of mind


verb

  1. to make or become less burdensome
  2. tr to relieve (a person) of worry or care; comfort
  3. tr to make comfortable or give rest to
  4. tr to make less difficult; facilitate
  5. to move or cause to move into, out of, etc, with careful manipulation

    to ease a car into a narrow space

  6. whenintr, often foll by off or up to lessen or cause to lessen in severity, pressure, tension, or strain; slacken, loosen, or abate
  7. ease oneself archaic.
    ease oneselfease nature to urinate or defecate
  8. ease the helm
    ease the helm nautical to relieve the pressure on the rudder of a vessel, esp by bringing the bow into the wind

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Derived Forms

  • ˈeaser, noun

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Other Words From

  • self-ease noun
  • self-easing adjective
  • well-eased adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of ease1

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English noun ese, eise, from Anglo-French, Old French “comfort, convenience,” from Vulgar Latin adjaces (unrecorded) “vicinity,” the regular outcome of literary Latin adjacēns adjacent; verb ultimately derivative of the noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of ease1

C13: from Old French aise ease, opportunity, from Latin adjacēns neighbouring (area); see adjacent

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. at ease, Military. a position of rest in which soldiers may relax but may not leave their places or talk.

More idioms and phrases containing ease

  • at ease
  • ill at ease
  • easily
  • easy

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Synonym Study

Ease, comfort refer to a sense of relaxation or of well-being. Ease implies a relaxed condition with an absence of effort or pressure: a life of ease. Comfort suggests a sense of well-being, along with ease, which produces a quiet happiness and contentment: comfort in one's old age.

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Example Sentences

That ease means that creators often have multiple Carrds under their belt, creating a sub-economy of design tips and art.

Cellebrite says it can “unlock devices with ease” by finding vulnerabilities in targeted smartphones and exploiting them.

“The ease with which companies can be incorporated under state law, and how little information is generally required about the company’s owners or activities, raises concerns about a lack of transparency,” the report said.

Unlike masks, which can fall off the ears, outdoor runners and cyclists enjoy the ease of pulling buffs up as they pass the occasional dog-walker or fellow jogger, and then down again once they’re alone.

From Quartz

Blow-by drives, where a player dribbles past a defender with ease, are also up slightly.

Normality, domesticity, ease, in the blazing Arizona desert.

As it stands, the deal will ease the travel ban and trade embargo, and make it easier for Americans to do business in Cuba.

This deal will greatly ease a travel ban and the trade embargo, and make it easier for Americans to do business in Cuba.

In no previous era in human history had one country ever completely dominated world finance with such ease.

She appears calmer, more at ease, since the last time I sat down with her in 2008.

Where the outside conditions are not very favourable, practically all the British species may be grown with ease under glass.

See the ease and grace of the lady in the sacque, who sits on the bank there, under the myrtles, with the guitar on her lap!

Tressan was monstrous ill-at-ease, and his face lost a good deal of its habitual plethora of colour.

In this way it will be managed with less offense and with more ease to the conscience than now.

Uriah said it would dishonour him to seek ease and pleasure at home while other soldiers were enduring hardship at the front.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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