Definition
To alleviate is to lighten a load you cannot fully remove — from the Latin alleviare, 'to lighten', built on levis, 'light'. Painkillers alleviate pain; aid alleviates hardship; an apology can alleviate tension. Like its cousin mitigate, it works on severity, not existence: the problem remains, but its weight is eased. It is the gentle opposite of exacerbate — where one presses the burden down harder, alleviate lifts part of it off.
Examples
- The new bypass did much to alleviate traffic in the town centre.
- Simple measures can alleviate the worst symptoms of the illness.
- Nothing the manager said could alleviate the staff's anxiety, and the delays only served to exacerbate it.
Collocations
alleviate pain·alleviate poverty·alleviate the burden·help to alleviate
Synonyms
Antonyms
aggravate·exacerbate·worsen
Word family
alleviation (noun)
In TOEFL & IELTS
A workhorse of IELTS Writing Task 2 problem-solution essays: 'to alleviate this problem, governments could…'. TOEFL passages use it for medicine and poverty ('poverty alleviation'). It overlaps with 'mitigate', but 'alleviate' leans toward easing suffering, 'mitigate' toward reducing severity or risk. Keep it opposite to 'exacerbate'.