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Definition of Palliate
1. Verb. Lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of. "The circumstances extenuate the crime"
Category relationships: Jurisprudence, Law
Generic synonyms: Apologise, Apologize, Excuse, Justify, Rationalise, Rationalize
Derivative terms: Extenuation, Extenuation, Mitigation, Mitigation, Mitigative, Mitigatory, Palliation
2. Verb. Provide physical relief, as from pain. "This pill will relieve your headaches"
Specialized synonyms: Soothe, Comfort, Ease
Generic synonyms: Ameliorate, Amend, Better, Improve, Meliorate
Derivative terms: Alleviant, Alleviation, Alleviation, Alleviative, Alleviator, Alleviator, Alleviatory, Assuagement, Palliation, Palliative
Definition of Palliate
1. a. Covered with a mant&?;e; cloaked; disguised.
2. v. t. To cover with a mantle or cloak; to cover up; to hide.
Definition of Palliate
1. Adjective. (obsolete) Cloaked; hidden, concealed. (defdate 15th-17th c.) ¹
2. Verb. To relieve the symptoms of; to ameliorate. (defdate from 15th c.) ¹
3. Verb. (obsolete) To hide or disguise. (defdate 16th-19th c.) ¹
4. Verb. To cover or disguise the seriousness of (a mistake, offence etc.) by excuses and apologies. (defdate from 17th c.) ¹
5. Verb. (obsolete) To lessen the severity of; to extenuate, moderate, qualify. (defdate 17th-18th c.) ¹
6. Verb. To placate or mollify. (defdate from 17th c.) ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Palliate
1. to conceal the seriousness of [v -ATED, -ATING, -ATES]
Medical Definition of Palliate
1. 1. To cover with a mantle or cloak; to cover up; to hide. "Being palliated with a pilgrim's coat." (Sir T. Herbert) 2. To cover with excuses; to conceal the enormity of, by excuses and apologies; to extenuate; as, to palliate faults. "They never hide or palliate their vices." (Swift) 3. To reduce in violence; to lessen or abate; to mitigate; to ease withhout curing; as, to palliate a disease." "To palliate dullness, and give time a shove." (Cowper) Synonym: To cover, cloak, hide, extenuate, conceal. To Palliate, Extenuate, Cloak. These words, as here compared, are used in a figurative sense in reference to our treatment of wrong action. We cloak in order to conceal completely. We extenuate a crime when we endeavor to show that it is less than has been supposed; we palliate a crime when we endeavor to cover or conceal its enormity, at least in part. This naturally leads us to soften some of its features, and thus palliate approaches extenuate till they have become nearly or quite identical. "To palliate is not now used, though it once was, in the sense of wholly cloaking or covering over, as it might be, our sins, but in that of extenuating; to palliate our faults is not to hide them altogether, but to seek to diminish their guilt in part." Origin: Palliated; Palliating. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Palliate
Literary usage of Palliate
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Novels of Jane Austen by Jane Austen (1905)
"His companions suggested only what could palliate imprudence or smooth objections;
and by the time they had talked it all over together, and he had talked ..."
2. English Synonymes Explained in Alphabetical Order: With Copious by George Crabb (1881)
"TO GLOSS, VARNISH, palliate. GLOSS and VARNISH arc figurative terms, which borrow
their signification from the act of rendering the outer surface of any ..."
3. Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of England, from by John Campbell Campbell (1847)
"It is to confound the sacred distinctions of right and wrong to attempt to defend
the conduct of Bacon in this affair, or to palliate its enormity. ..."
4. The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V.: With a View of the by William Robertson (1769)
"... all the art and ingenuity of its later and more learned advocate*- have not
been able to palliate. ..."
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