Dictionary Definition
relieve
Verb
1 provide physical relief, as from pain; "This
pill will relieve your headaches" [syn: alleviate, palliate, assuage]
2 free someone temporarily from his or her
obligations [syn: take
over]
3 grant relief or an exemption from a rule or
requirement to; "She exempted me from the exam" [syn: exempt, free] [ant: enforce]
4 lessen the intensity of or calm; "The news
eased my conscience"; "still the fears" [syn: still, allay, ease]
6 relieve oneself of troubling information [syn:
unbosom]
7 alleviate or remove; "relieve the pressure and
the stress"
8 provide relief for; "remedy his illness" [syn:
remedy]
9 free from a burden, evil, or distress
10 take by stealing; "The thief relieved me of
$100"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -iːv
Verb
- To lift up; to raise again, as one who has fallen; to cause to rise.
- To cause to seem to rise; to put in relief; to give prominence or conspicuousness to; to set off by contrast.
- To raise up something in; to introduce a contrast or variety into; to remove the monotony or sameness of.
- To raise or remove, as anything which depresses, weighs down, or crushes; to render less burdensome or afflicting; to alleviate; to abate; to mitigate; to lessen; as, to relieve pain; to relieve the wants of the poor.
- To free, wholly or partly, from any burden, trial, evil, distress, or the like; to give ease, comfort, or consolation to; to give aid, help, or succor to; to support, strengthen, or deliver; as, to relieve a besieged town.
- To release from a post, station, or duty; to put another in place of, or to take the place of, in the bearing of any burden, or discharge of any duty.
- To ease of any imposition, burden, wrong, or oppression, by judicial or legislative interposition, as by the removal of a grievance, by indemnification for losses, or the like; to right.
Translations
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
abate,
abet, abridge, absolve, act for, aid, allay, alleviate, alternate, anesthetize, appease, assist, assuage, assure, avail, bail out, be light, bear a
hand, bear up, befriend, benefit, benumb, bereave, bleed, break up, change places
with, cheer, comfort, condole with, console, cover, crowd out, curtail, cushion, cut off, cut out,
deaden, deaden the pain,
decrease, deliver, deprive, deprive of, differ, differentiate, diminish, disburden, discharge, disencumber, disentitle, dispense, displace, dissent, disunify, divaricate, diverge, diversify, divest, do a hitch, do a stint,
do a tour, do good, do time, doctor, double for, drain, dull, ease, ease matters, ease one of,
encourage, enlist, excuse, favor, fill in, fill in for,
foment, free, ghost, ghostwrite, give a boost,
give a hand, give a lift, give comfort, give help, give relief,
have a go, have little weight, have tenure, hearten, help, hold office, keep a watch,
kick the beam, knock off, knock over, lay, lend a hand, lend one aid,
lessen, let, liberate, lift, lighten, lighten one of,
loot, lull, make light, make lighter,
milk, mine, mitigate, moderate, mollify, numb, off-load, pad, palliate, pinch-hit, plunder, poultice, pour balm into, pour
oil on, proffer aid, protect, put at ease, qualify, quiet, raise, rally, ransack, re-up, reassure, reclaim, redeem, reduce, reduce weight, reenlist, release, remedy, render assistance,
replace, represent, rescue, restore, resuscitate, revive, rid, rifle, rob, salve, save, serve time, set at ease, set
up, sign up, slacken,
slake, soften, solace, soothe, spare, spell, spell off, stand in for,
stick up, stupe, sub, subdue, subrogate, substitute, substitute for,
succeed, succor, supersede, supplant, supply, support, swap places with,
sympathize with, take away from, take from, take in tow, take over,
take turns, tap, temper, time off, unballast, unburden, understudy for,
unlade, unload, variate, variegate, vary, weigh lightly