alleviate[verb]Synonyms: ease, allay, lessen, lighten, moderate, reduce, relieve, soothe
Antonyms: aggravate
Contrasted words: augment, heighten, intensify
Related Idioms: temper the wind to the shorn lamb
Related Words: cure,
remedy
English Thesaurus: reduce, cut, lower, bring something down, slash, ... [TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲
al‧le‧vi‧ate /əˈliːvieɪt/
verb [transitive][
Date: 1500-1600;
Language: Late Latin;
Origin: past participle of alleviare, from Latin ad- 'to' + levis 'light']
to make something less painful or difficult to deal with
alleviate the problem/situation/suffering etc
a new medicine to alleviate the symptoms of flu measures to alleviate poverty—alleviation /əˌliːviˈeɪʃ
ən/
noun [uncountable] [TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲
reduce to make the price, amount, or size of something less or smaller:
The price was reduced by 50%. We need to reduce the amount of salt in our diet.cut to reduce something, especially by a large amount – used about prices, costs, jobs, or the time needed to do something:
Companies are always looking for ways to cut costs. The journey time will be cut to under 2 hours. Staff numbers have been cut by half to about 150.lower to reduce the level, limit, or amount of something.
Lower sounds rather formal:
The voting age was lowered to 18. The government decided to lower interest rates by 0.5%. After twenty minutes, lower the temperature to 150 degrees.bring something down to reduce something such as prices or costs, or reduce the level of something.
Bring something down is less formal than
lower:
The government wants to bring down the level of inflation. The company is trying to bring its costs down.slash informal to reduce an amount or price by a very large amount – used especially in newspapers and advertisements:
Public spending has been slashed over the past two years. Prices slashed for one week only!cut something back to reduce the amount of something – used especially about people deciding to spend less, do less, or use less of something:
The education budget has been cut back again. I need to cut back on my workload.downsize to reduce the number of people employed in order to reduce costs – used about a company or organization:
The company is planning to downsize its European operations.scale something down/back to reduce the size or the amount of money that is being spent on something:
The research programme has been scaled down. The navy is being scaled down.relieve/ease to make pain or feelings less unpleasant:
The drug is used to relieve pain. A joke can help to ease the tension.alleviate formal to reduce pain or suffering, or make a problem less serious:
You can buy various medicines to alleviate the symptoms of flu. The new road was supposed to alleviate the congestion problem. [TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲