Part of speech:

Verb, the transitive kind: "You can't cure that disease, but you can palliate it;" "He made an awkward comment, then hurried to palliate it."

Other forms: 

The other verb forms are "palliated" and "palliating."

People who palliate things are "palliators."

There's a noun, "palliative," the countable kind, meaning "a thing that makes something a little better," as in "Tylenol is a palliative" and "His presence proves a welcome palliative for the show's darker moments" (New York Times).

Good things that palliate bad things can be called "palliating," "palliatory," or "palliative." And bad things that have been made slightly better are "palliated," while bad things that haven't been made slightly better are "unpalliated."

Things that can be palliated could be called "palliable," but that word doesn't appear in dictionaries. Its opposite does, though: if things can't be palliated, they're "unpalliable."

Pick the formal, semi-common word "palliate" when you want to strike a tone that's serious. This word helps you imply that some problem is like a physical illness, and that efforts to ease that problem are like a cloak thrown over them.

Talk about people and things that palliate pains, symptoms, suffering, diseases, discomfort, crises, burdens, annoyances, inconveniences, mistakes, and bad feelings of all kinds, like guilt, anger, despair, and disappointment.

examples:

"Divisions and inequalities persist, but government can palliate their effects with hard cash."
  — David Cameron, The Guardian, 14 August 2010

"[Franklin Delano Roosevelt] hid his intentions, manipulated people, set aides to contrary tasks--all to keep control of the game in trustworthy hands (his own). Charm and high purposes palliated the pure ether of his arrogance."
  — Staff, US News, 28 April 1997

has this page helped you understand "palliate"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "palliate" without saying "cloak" or "ease."

try it out:

In 2021, Reuters reported that Cuba, having struggled through the pandemic, hoped tourist season would "bring much-needed dollars to palliate a dire economic crisis."

Talk about what that means. Why would tourist dollars palliate the crisis, rather than cure it or eliminate it? Could you think of another example of a problem that could be palliated (but not cured) by money?

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is Make Your Point Before & After!

I'll give you a clue, and you give me a verbal mashup including at least one word or phrase we've studied before.

For example, if I give you "It's the kind of theatrical stage setting that encourages the actors to radically overact," then you give me "mise en scenery chewing," a mashup of "mise en scene" and "scenery chewing."

Try this one today: They're the made-up backstories of pro wrestlers, always ending in a moral.

To reveal the first two hints, highlight the hidden white text.

Hint 1: The number of words in this Before & After is... one.

Hint 2: The first word in this Before & After is... well, that's too big of a hint, but the first letter is K.

Hint 3: Use this term.

To see the answer, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. The opposite of PALLIATE could be

A. INCUBATE: to help things grow.
B. EXACERBATE: to make things worse.
C. DISSIPATE: to disappear or scatter.

2. In a weird little 1813 pamphlet, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley urged readers to be vegetarians for health reasons, complaining that "short-sighted victims of disease" found it easier to "palliate their torments by _____, than to prevent them by regimen."

A. pretense
B. medicine
C. laziness

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. B Answer to the game question: kayfables.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.