palliative
UK /ˈpælɪətɪv/ · US /ˈpælieɪtɪv/ adjective, noun
Forms palliatives
- adjective Serving to palliate; serving to extenuate or mitigate.
- adjective (medicine) Minimising the progression of a disease and relieving undesirable symptoms for as long as possible, rather than attempting to cure the (usually incurable) disease.
- noun (medicine) Something that palliates, particularly a palliative medicine. “The radiation and chemotherapy were only palliatives.”
Synonyms
alleviant alleviator alleviative alleviatory lenitive mitigative mitigatory
Etymology
From Middle French palliatif, from New Latin *palliātīvus, from Medieval Latin palliō (“to cloak”), from Latin pallium (“a cloak”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Serving to palliate; serving to extenuate or mitigate.
- noun That which palliates; a palliative agent. Sir W. Scott.
Etymology [Cf. F. palliatif.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “palliative”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details