ease

[ eez ]
See synonyms for: easeeasedeasing on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. freedom from labor, pain, or physical annoyance; tranquil rest; comfort: to enjoy one's ease.

  2. freedom from concern, anxiety, or solicitude; a quiet state of mind: to be at ease about one's health.

  1. freedom from difficulty or great effort; facility: It can be done with ease.

  2. freedom from financial need; plenty: a life of ease on a moderate income.

  3. freedom from stiffness, constraint, or formality; unaffectedness: ease of manner;the ease and elegance of her poetry.

verb (used with object),eased, eas·ing.
  1. to free from anxiety or care: to ease one's mind.

  2. to mitigate, lighten, or lessen: to ease pain.

  1. to release from pressure, tension, or the like.

  2. to move or shift with great care: to ease a car into a narrow parking space.

  3. to render less difficult; facilitate: I'll help if it will ease your job.

  4. to provide (an architectural member) with an easement.

  5. Shipbuilding. to trim (a timber of a wooden hull) so as to fair its surface into the desired form of the hull.

  6. Nautical.

    • to bring (the helm or rudder of a vessel) slowly amidships.

    • to bring the head of (a vessel) into the wind.

    • to slacken or lessen the hold upon (a rope).

    • 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.

  1. to move, shift, or be moved or be shifted with great care.

Verb Phrases
  1. ease out, 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.

Idioms about ease

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

Origin of ease

1
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

synonym study For ease

1. 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.

Other words for ease

Opposites for ease

Other words from ease

  • self-ease, noun
  • self-easing, adjective
  • well-eased, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ease in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for ease

ease

/ (iːz) /


noun
  1. freedom from discomfort, worry, or anxiety

  2. lack of difficulty, labour, or awkwardness; facility

  1. rest, leisure, or relaxation

  2. freedom from poverty or financial embarrassment; affluence: a life of ease

  3. lack of restraint, embarrassment, or stiffness: his ease of manner disarmed us

  4. at ease military

    • (of a standing soldier, etc) in a relaxed position with the feet apart and hands linked behind the back

    • a command to adopt such a position

    • 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

  1. (tr) to make comfortable or give rest to

  2. (tr) to make less difficult; facilitate

  3. to move or cause to move into, out of, etc, with careful manipulation: to ease a car into a narrow space

  4. (when intr, often foll by off or up) to lessen or cause to lessen in severity, pressure, tension, or strain; slacken, loosen, or abate

  5. ease oneself or ease nature archaic, euphemistic to urinate or defecate

  6. ease the helm nautical to relieve the pressure on the rudder of a vessel, esp by bringing the bow into the wind

Origin of ease

1
C13: from Old French aise ease, opportunity, from Latin adjacēns neighbouring (area); see adjacent

Derived forms of ease

  • easer, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with ease

ease

In addition to the idioms beginning with ease

  • ease off
  • ease out

also see:

  • at ease
  • ill at ease

Also see undereasilyeasy.

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