palliative.

1. Reducing pain or difficulty without removing its underlying cause.

2. A treatment or measure that gives relief without solving the underlying problem.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• palliative care
• palliative measure

On the page

Palliative care eased his pain.

The repairs were a palliative measure, not a lasting solution.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Comparative more palliative; superlative most palliative where gradation is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.