What does "alleviate" mean?

1. (to reduce pain or difficulty) to make something like pain or a problem less severe or easier to bear. 2. (to pay down debt) to pay off part of a debt or loan.

How do you use "alleviate"?

Commonly collocates with 'pain', 'suffering', 'poverty', or 'symptoms'. Used specifically in the context of reducing the total amount of a debt.

alleviate

US //əˈɫiviˌeɪt// UK //ɐlˈiːvɪˌeɪt// al·le·vi·ate

1 to reduce pain or difficulty (v.)
B2 Upper Intermediate

to make something like pain or a problem less severe or easier to bear.

to make suffering, deficiency, or a problem less severe. Transitive — requires a direct object representing the burden being eased.

Example

The new medicine helped to alleviate her back pain within minutes.

Example

The government introduced several new measures designed to alleviate the housing shortage in the city's most crowded districts.

Usage

Commonly collocates with 'pain', 'suffering', 'poverty', or 'symptoms'.

Teacher's tip

Learners often confuse this with 'solve'. Alleviate means to make a bad situation better, not necessarily to fix it completely.
2 to pay down debt (v.)
C1 Advanced Technical Formal Finance

to pay off part of a debt or loan.

to reduce the principal of a debt or financial obligation through partial payment.

Example

He used his year-end bonus to alleviate some of his student loan debt.

Example

The restructuring plan allowed the corporation to alleviate its massive debt burden by selling off non-core assets.

Usage

Used specifically in the context of reducing the total amount of a debt.

Teacher's tip

This is a highly specialised financial use; in everyday English, 'pay off' or 'reduce' is much more common.
- reduce
- pay down
- accumulate
- increase

Origin

Borrowed from Late Latin alleviatus, past participle of alleviāre (“to lighten; to alleviate”).