Reliever

How to spell reliever

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce reliever

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reliever mean?

1. nounA person or thing that lessens pain, stress, or a burden.
2. nounIn baseball, a pitcher who enters the game to replace another, especially late in play.

Reliever in a sentence

• The pharmacist recommended a gentle pain reliever for her headache.

• The manager brought in his best reliever to protect the slim lead in the ninth.

• A hot bath at night became his favourite stress reliever after long shifts.

• The team signed a veteran reliever to strengthen its bullpen.

Where does reliever come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb levare, meaning 'to lift up' or 'to make light', which itself grew from levis, the adjective for 'light' in weight. Old French turned this into relever, 'to raise again' or 'to ease', and Middle English borrowed the verb as 'relieve' during the 1300s, carrying the sense of lightening a burden of pain, worry, or duty. The agent noun 'reliever', 'one who or that which relieves', formed naturally on English soil by adding the familiar -er suffix to the verb. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the vowels follow the 'i before e' pattern as 'lie', and the silent flow of 'lieve' echoes 'believe' and 'achieve', words that share the same ending. The same levare root also lies behind 'elevate', 'lever', and 'levity', all of which involve lifting or lightness.

How the word is built

• re- (intensive/again)
• liev (from Latin levare: to lift, lighten)
• -er (agent/instrument suffix: one that does)