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Definition of palliate - 7 dictionary results
pal⋅li⋅ate
[pal-ee-eyt] 
iˌeɪt
–verb (used with object), -at⋅ed, -at⋅ing.
| 1. | to relieve or lessen without curing; mitigate; alleviate. |
| 2. | to try to mitigate or conceal the gravity of (an offense) by excuses, apologies, etc.; extenuate. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To palliate
| pal·li·ate (pāl'ē-āt') tr.v. pal·li·at·ed, pal·li·at·ing, pal·li·ates
[Middle English palliaten, from Late Latin palliāre, palliāt-, to cloak, palliate, from Latin pallium, cloak.] pal'li·a'tion n., pal'li·a'tor n. Synonyms: These verbs mean to cause a fault or offense to seem less grave or less reprehensible: palliate a crime; couldn't extenuate the malfeasance; glossing over an unethical transaction; glozing sins and iniquities; whitewashed official complicity in political extortion. See Also Synonyms at relieve. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Palliate
Pal"li*ate\, a. [L. palliatus, fr. pallium a cloak. See Pall the garment.]1. Covered with a mant?e; cloaked; disguised. [Obs.] --Bp. Hall. 2. Eased; mitigated; alleviated. [Obs.] --Bp. Fell.Palliate
Pal"li*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Palliated; p. pr. & vb. n. Palliating.]1. To cover with a mantle or cloak; to cover up; to hide. [Obs.] Being palliated with a pilgrim's coat. --Sir T. Herbert. 2. To cover with excuses; to conceal the enormity of, by excuses and apologies; to extenuate; as, to palliate faults. They never hide or palliate their vices. --Swift. 3. To reduce in violence; to lessen or abate; to mitigate; to ease withhout curing; as, to palliate a disease. To palliate dullness, and give time a shove. --Cowper. Syn: To cover; cloak; hide; extenuate; conceal. Usage: To Palliate, Extenuate, Cloak. These words, as here compared, are used in a figurative sense in reference to our treatment of wrong action. We cloak in order to conceal completely. We extenuate a crime when we endeavor to show that it is less than has been supposed; we palliate a crime when we endeavor to cover or conceal its enormity, at least in part. This naturally leads us to soften some of its features, and thus palliate approaches extenuate till they have become nearly or quite identical. "To palliate is not now used, though it once was, in the sense of wholly cloaking or covering over, as it might be, our sins, but in that of extenuating; to palliate our faults is not to hide them altogether, but to seek to diminish their guilt in part." --Trench.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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palliate
"to alleviate without curing," 1543 (implied in palliative), from M.L. palliatus, lit. "cloaked," from pp. of L.L. palliare "cover with a cloak, conceal," from L. pallium "cloak" (see pall (n.)).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: pal·li·ate
Pronunciation: 'pal-E-"At
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: -at·ed; -at·ing
: to reduce the violence of (a disease) : ease without curing —pal·li·a·tion /"pal-E-'A-sh&n/ noun
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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palliate pal·li·ate (pāl'ē-āt')
v. pal·li·at·ed, pal·li·at·ing, pal·li·ates
To reduce the severity of; to relieve somewhat.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
