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relieve

 - 6 dictionary results

re⋅lieve

  [ri-leev] verb, -lieved, -liev⋅ing.
Use relieve in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to ease or alleviate (pain, distress, anxiety, need, etc.).
2. to free from anxiety, fear, pain, etc.
3. to free from need, poverty, etc.
4. to bring effective aid to (a besieged town, military position, etc.).
5. to ease (a person) of any burden, wrong, or oppression, as by legal means.
6. to reduce (a pressure, load, weight, etc., on a device or object under stress): to relieve the steam pressure; to relieve the stress on the supporting walls.
7. to make less tedious, unpleasant, or monotonous; break or vary the sameness of: curtains to relieve the drabness of the room.
8. to bring into relief or prominence; heighten the effect of.
9. to release (one on duty) by coming as or providing a substitute or replacement.
10. Machinery.
a. to free (a closed space, as a tank, boiler, etc.) of more than a desirable pressure or vacuum.
b. to reduce (the pressure or vacuum in such a space) to a desirable level.
11. Baseball. to replace (a pitcher).
–verb (used without object)
12. Baseball. to act as a relief pitcher: He relieved in 52 games for the Pirates last season.
—Idiom
13. to relieve oneself, to urinate or defecate.
Origin:
1300–50; ME releven < MF relever to raise < L relevāre to reduce the load of, lighten, equiv. to re- re- + levāre to raise, deriv. of levis light in weight

Related forms:
re⋅liev⋅a⋅ble, adjective
re⋅liev⋅ed⋅ly  [ri-lee-vid-lee] , adverb

Synonyms:
1. mitigate, assuage, allay, lighten, lessen, abate, diminish. See comfort. 1-4. aid, help, assist. 3. support, sustain. 4. succor.

Antonyms:
1. intensify.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To relieve
re·lieve   (rĭ-lēv')   
tr.v.   re·lieved, re·liev·ing, re·lieves

  1. To cause a lessening or alleviation of: relieved all his symptoms; relieved the tension.

  2. To free from pain, anxiety, or distress.

  3. To furnish assistance or aid to.

  4. To rescue from siege.

  5. To release (a person) from an obligation, restriction, or burden, as by law or legislation.

    1. To free from a specified duty by providing or acting as a substitute.

    2. Baseball To take over for (a relief pitcher).

  7. To make less tedious, monotonous, or unpleasant: Only one small candle relieved the gloom.

  8. To make prominent or effective by contrast; set off.

  9. Informal To rob or deprive: Pickpockets relieved him of his money.


[Middle English releven, from Old French relever, from Latin relevāre : re-, re- + levāre, to raise; see legwh- in Indo-European roots.]
re·liev'a·ble adj.
Synonyms: These verbs mean to make something less severe or more bearable. To relieve is to make more endurable something causing discomfort or distress: "that misery which he strives in vain to relieve" (Henry David Thoreau).
Allay suggests at least temporary relief from what is burdensome or painful: "This music crept by me upon the waters,/Allaying both their fury and my passion/With its sweet air" (Shakespeare).
Alleviate connotes temporary lessening of distress without removal of its cause: "No arguments shall be wanting on my part that can alleviate so severe a misfortune" (Jane Austen).
To assuage is to soothe or make milder: assuaged his guilt by confessing to the crime.
Lighten signifies to make less heavy or oppressive: legislation that would lighten the taxpayer's burden.
Mitigate and palliate connote moderating the force or intensity of something that causes suffering: "I ... prayed to the Lord to mitigate a calamity" (John Galt). "Men turn to him in the hour of distress, as of all statesmen the most fitted to palliate it" (William E.H. Lecky).
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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Word Origin & History

relieve 
c.1300, from O.Fr. relever "to raise, relieve" (11c.), from L. relevare "to raise, alleviate," from re-, intensive prefix, + levare "to lift up, lighten," from levis "not heavy" (see lever). The notion is "to raise (someone) out of trouble." Reliever in the baseball pitcher sense is recorded from 1967.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: re·lieve
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: re·lieved; re·liev·ing
: to set free from a duty, burden, or liability relieved of his negligence> relieve the trustees of those very basic duties that the law imposes —Hosey v. Burgess, 890 South Western Reporter, Second Series 262 (1995)>
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: re·lieve
Pronunciation: ri-'lEv
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: re·lieved; re·liev·ing
1 : to bring about the removal or alleviation of (pain or discomfort)
2 : to discharge the bladder or bowels of (oneself) —re·liev·er noun
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

relieve re·lieve (rĭ-lēv')
v. re·lieved, re·liev·ing, re·lieves

  1. To cause a lessening or alleviation of something, such as pain, tension, or a symptom.

  2. To free an individual from pain, anxiety, or distress.

re·liev'a·ble adj.
re·liev'er n.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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