palliate
/ˈpælieɪt/ verb, adjective
Forms palliates palliating palliated
- verb To relieve the symptoms of; to ameliorate.
- verb (obsolete) To hide or disguise.
- verb (figurative) To cover or disguise the seriousness of (a mistake, offence etc.) by excuses and apologies.
- verb (obsolete) To lessen the severity of; to extenuate, moderate, qualify.
- verb To placate or mollify.
- adjective Hidden, concealed.
- adjective (medicine, rare) (of a cure) superficial or temporary.
Synonyms
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).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Covered with a mant [Obs.] Bp. Hall.
- adjective Eased; mitigated; alleviated. [Obs.] Bp. Fell.
- verb To cover with a mantle or cloak; to cover up; to hide. [Obs.]
- verb To cover with excuses; to conceal the enormity of, by excuses and apologies; to extenuate; as, to palliate faults.
Etymology [L. palliatus, fr. pallium a cloak. See Pall the garment.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “palliate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details