relieve

The word “relieve” means to ease or reduce pain, distress, or worry. In plain terms, to make a burden lighter, whether that's pain, stress, or a duty someone else can take over.

“Relieve” is pronounced rih-LEEV (/ɹɪˈliːv/ in IPA).

Here is “relieve” used in a sentence: “The medicine helped relieve his back pain.”

Words with a similar meaning to “relieve” include allay and assuage.

“Relieve” is a verb.

The word “relieve” comes from Latin. From Old French relever, from Latin relevare, "to lift up, lighten" — from re- plus levare, "to lift.".

“Relieve” is an uncommon word in modern English, usually learned at around the B2 level.

“Relieve” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: to ease or reduce pain, distress, or worry.

Relieve and alleviate both mean to ease pain, distress, or worry, and they are close synonyms. Alleviate tends to suggest a partial or gradual easing rather than complete removal, while relieve can describe either a partial easing or full removal of the problem. Both words work in medical and emotional contexts.

To relieve someone of a duty means to free them from a task or responsibility, often by taking their place, such as relieving a guard at the end of a shift. This sense focuses on transferring or ending an obligation rather than easing pain or distress.

Relieve is followed by "of" when referring to duties or responsibilities, as in "relieve someone of their post" or "relieve a worker of their duties." When referring to pain or distress, relieve is often used without a following preposition, as in "relieve the pain."