Palliative

//ˈpælieɪtɪv// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Something that palliates, particularly a palliative medicine.

    "The radiation and chemotherapy were only palliatives."

  2. 2
    remedy that alleviates pain without curing wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Serving to palliate; serving to extenuate or mitigate.
  2. 2
    Minimising the progression of a disease and relieving undesirable symptoms for as long as possible, rather than attempting to cure the (usually incurable) disease.
Adjective
  1. 1
    moderating pain or sorrow by making it easier to bear wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
alleviativeanalgesicalleviantalleviatingalleviativealleviator

Example

More examples

"A gerontologist suggested that better palliative care facilities for patients who are nearing the end of their lives might be better than legalizing assisted suicide."

Etymology

From Middle French palliatif, from New Latin *palliātīvus, from Medieval Latin palliō (“to cloak”), from Latin pallium (“a cloak”).

Related phrases

palliative care

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.