Alleviate

How to spell alleviate

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce alleviate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does alleviate mean?

1. verbTo make a problem, pain, or burden less severe.

Alleviate in a sentence

• A short nap can alleviate the worst of the afternoon fatigue.

• The new payment plan should alleviate some of the financial pressure on the family.

Where does alleviate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin verb alleviare, meaning 'to lighten' or 'to make light'. It was built from the prefix ad-, meaning 'to' (which assimilated to al- before the l), and the adjective levis, meaning 'light' in weight, the same root that gives us 'levity' and 'elevate'. The literal idea was of lifting a burden or reducing a load, which shifted naturally into the figurative sense of easing pain or distress. English took the word in the early 1400s, partly through the Late Latin and Old French forms, in religious and medical writing about relieving suffering. Remembering that the heart of the word is levis, 'light', explains the single 'v' and the 'levi' spelling, while the doubled 'l' is simply the assimilated ad- prefix, the same doubling seen in 'allot' and 'allude'.

How the word is built

• al- (to, from Latin ad-)
• levi (light, from levis)
• -ate (verb suffix)