ZebraWords.com - The Definition of 'Palliate', Synonyms of 'Palliate' & More on 'Palliate'

1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)

palliate
    v 1: lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of;
         "The circumstances extenuate the crime" [syn: extenuate,
         palliate, mitigate]
    2: provide physical relief, as from pain; "This pill will
       relieve your headaches" [syn: relieve, alleviate,
       palliate, assuage]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Palliate \Pal"li*ate\, a. [L. palliatus, fr. pallium a cloak.
   See Pall the garment.]
   1. Covered with a mantle; cloaked; hidden; disguised. [Obs.]
      --Bp. Hall.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Eased; mitigated; alleviated. [Obs.] --Bp. Fell.
      [1913 Webster]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Palliate \Pal"li*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Palliated; p. pr. &
   vb. n. Palliating.]
   1. To cover with a mantle or cloak; to cover up; to hide.
      [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Being palliated with a pilgrim's coat. --Sir T.
                                                  Herbert.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To cover with excuses; to conceal the enormity of, by
      excuses and apologies; to extenuate; as, to palliate
      faults.
      [1913 Webster]

            They never hide or palliate their vices. --Swift.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To reduce in violence; to lessen or abate; to mitigate; to
      ease without curing; as, to palliate a disease.
      [1913 Webster]

            To palliate dullness, and give time a shove.
                                                  --Cowper.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: To cover; cloak; hide; extenuate; conceal.

   Usage: 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." --Trench.
          [1913 Webster]

Thesaurus Results for Palliate:

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

abate, adjust to, allay, alleviate, allow for, alter, anesthetize, appease, assuage, attemper, bank the fire, benumb, blunt, box in, camouflage, chasten, circumscribe, cloak, color, conceal, condition, condone, constrain, control, cushion, damp, dampen, de-emphasize, deaden, deaden the pain, diminish, disguise, dissemble, downplay, dull, ease, ease matters, excuse, extenuate, foment, give relief, gloss over, hedge, hedge about, hush up, ignore, keep within bounds, lay, leaven, lenify, lessen, lighten, limit, lull, make allowance for, mask, mince, mitigate, moderate, modify, modulate, mollify, narrow, numb, obtund, pad, play down, poultice, pour balm into, pour oil on, prettify, qualify, reduce, reduce the temperature, regulate by, relieve, restrain, restrict, salve, season, set conditions, set limits, slacken, slake, slow down, slur over, smother, sober, sober down, soft-pedal, soften, soothe, stifle, stupe, subdue, sugarcoat, suppress, tame, temper, tone down, tune down, underplay, varnish, veneer, weaken, white, whiten, whitewash

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