Contextualizebeta

palliate

verb
/ˈpælieɪt/

Etymology

The verb was inherited from Middle English palliaten (“To palliate (a disease), relieve the symptoms of (a patient); to extenuate (an offense); to conceal, hide”), the adjective and participle from its participle palliat(e); further borrowed either from Middle French pallier or directly from Latin palliātus, perfect passive participle of palliō (“to cover with a cloak”)), from pallium (“a cloak”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

  1. derived from palliātus
  2. derived from pallier
  3. inherited from palliaten — “To palliate (a disease), relieve the symptoms of (a patient); to extenuate (an offense); to conceal, hide”
  4. inherited from palliaten

Definitions

  1. To relieve the symptoms of

    To relieve the symptoms of; to ameliorate.

    • And if there are some bankers out there who are still embarrassed by the size of their bonuses, then I propose that they palliate their guilt by giving to the Mayor's Fund for London to help deprived children in London.

  2. To hide or disguise.

  3. To cover or disguise the seriousness of (a mistake, offence etc.) by excuses and…

    To cover or disguise the seriousness of (a mistake, offence etc.) by excuses and apologies.

    • April 5 1628, Bishop Joseph Hall, The Blessings, Sins, and Judgments of God's Vineyard We extenuate not our guilt : whatever we sin , we condemn it as mortal : they palliate wickedness , with the fair pretence of veniality
    • The young clergyman, after a few hours of privacy, was sensible that the disorder of his nerves had hurried him into an unseemly outbreak of temper, which there had been nothing in the physician's words to excuse or palliate.
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. To lessen the severity of

      To lessen the severity of; to extenuate, moderate, qualify.

      • "Ah, dearest!" replied he, "your spirits are exhausted,—perhaps unconsciously oppressed with the idea of that future whose pain and whose peril I have rather heightened than palliated."
      • If, mindless of palliating circumstances, we are bound to regard the death of the Master-at-arms as the prisoner's deed, then does that deed constitute a capital crime whereof the penalty is a mortal one?

    2. To placate or mollify.

      • [Gordon] Brown's options for the machinery of Whitehall are constrained, as for all prime ministers, by the need to palliate allies and hug enemies close (John Reid, say).

    3. past participle of palliate (all senses)

      • [the] most helpful method of its Cure, which yet if palliate and imperfect would onely make way to more fatal Sickness

    4. Hidden, concealed.

    5. (of a cure) superficial or temporary.

      • All his industry and sales, did in your estate make but a palliate cure.

The neighborhood

Derived

palliator, palliatory

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for palliate. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA