1
as in to excuse
to make (something) seem less bad by offering excuses
don't try to palliate your constant lying by claiming that everybody lies
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in to alleviate
to make more bearable or less severe
this medicine should palliate your cough at least a little
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of palliate
Radiation can also be used to palliate painful bone metastases, as well as chemotherapy.
—
Lauryn Higgins, Flow Space, 1 Oct. 2024
Radiation can also be used to palliate painful bone metastases, as well as chemotherapy.
—Lauryn Higgins, Flow Space, 1 Oct. 2024
Senior-home avatars who are designed to palliate dementia patients in their darkest days.
—Longreads, 12 Apr. 2024
Long hours of sitting masquerade as wellness, insecurity is palliated by snacks, and flexibility’s just another name for no time of your own.
—Curbed, 4 Jan. 2023
Rhys drank heavily to palliate her burdens, and was known for tirades and other skunky behavior.
—New York Times, 20 June 2022
The friends are teen-agers, both outcasts of a kind, lonely and looking for ways to palliate their solitude.
—The New Yorker, 2 May 2022
Those would likely be limited to economic benefits to palliate the loss of crops and revenues for farmers.
—Emilio Morenatti, ajc, 13 Feb. 2022
In an effort to palliate these advocates, legislators offered a work-around, passing legislation to relax the restrictions on bail funds, allowing them to post higher bails and to bail out people facing Class-A felony charges.
—Nick Pinto, The New Republic, 6 Apr. 2020
Lauryn Higgins, Flow Space, 1 Oct. 2024
Radiation can also be used to palliate painful bone metastases, as well as chemotherapy.
—Lauryn Higgins, Flow Space, 1 Oct. 2024
Senior-home avatars who are designed to palliate dementia patients in their darkest days.
—Longreads, 12 Apr. 2024
Long hours of sitting masquerade as wellness, insecurity is palliated by snacks, and flexibility’s just another name for no time of your own.
—Curbed, 4 Jan. 2023
Rhys drank heavily to palliate her burdens, and was known for tirades and other skunky behavior.
—New York Times, 20 June 2022
The friends are teen-agers, both outcasts of a kind, lonely and looking for ways to palliate their solitude.
—The New Yorker, 2 May 2022
Those would likely be limited to economic benefits to palliate the loss of crops and revenues for farmers.
—Emilio Morenatti, ajc, 13 Feb. 2022
In an effort to palliate these advocates, legislators offered a work-around, passing legislation to relax the restrictions on bail funds, allowing them to post higher bails and to bail out people facing Class-A felony charges.
—Nick Pinto, The New Republic, 6 Apr. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for palliate
Verb
-
Until Henry momentarily excuses himself from the table, that is, and the person or persons behind these winky-wink messages tell her to poison Henry ASAP or the menacing guy currently hiding in her apartment will kill her boy.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
10 Apr. 2025
-
The 2025 Masters is here, and more than Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele will be on display this week at Augusta National Golf Club for all the fans — excuse us, patrons — to bear witness to.—
Hugh Kellenberger,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
The team may want to alleviate some of his workload to help preserve his game.—
Shayna Goldman,
New York Times,
28 Mar. 2025
-
Starting the hiring process doesn’t alleviate their workload in the interim.—
Nolan Hout,
Forbes.com,
28 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
The myth that trans women are a danger to cis women is a grossly transphobic stereotype with almost no real-world justification, but Rowling pins most of her anti-trans arguments on it, using her experience as a survivor of domestic abuse to justify her prejudice.—
Aja Romano,
Vox,
18 Apr. 2025
-
The funding freezes and cuts have been imposed before the completion of full investigations, and different legal rationales have been offered to justify them.—
Michael T. Nietzel,
Forbes.com,
18 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
Rather than rising up and killing its former masters, Murderbot just goes about performing its security work, relieving the boredom by watching a lot of entertainment media.—
Jennifer Ouellette,
ArsTechnica,
9 Apr. 2025
-
Trump rejected a 90-day pause in tariffs set to take effect on Wednesday, a bit of rumor that briefly relieved agitated financial markets before it was promptly dismissed by the White House as fiction.—
Alexis Simendinger,
The Hill,
8 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
All of that helps explain how Gordon got back up in 2011 with 45 doubles, 23 home runs and 87 RBIs to begin a five-year stretch as the best left-fielder in the game — as quantified by FanGraphs’ and Baseball-Reference’s measures of Wins Above Replacement.—
Vahe Gregorian,
Kansas City Star,
16 Mar. 2025
-
Figure explains that this decision was made to maintain tight control over robot quality, production efficiency, and performance.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
16 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
Please help show my baby that other badass women are out there!—
Lisa Gutierrez,
Kansas City Star,
28 Mar. 2025
-
For example, whenever one of the kids had a spelling bee, everyone in the car would help recite the words.—
Jeremy Rutherford,
New York Times,
28 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
That would further mitigate any economic benefit from the exemptions.—
Paul Davidson,
USA Today,
14 Apr. 2025
-
Bypassing the need to downlink data to ground stations scattered around the world will also mitigate security concerns, such as possible interception of data by adversary actors.—
Tereza Pultarova,
Space.com,
14 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
According to tradition, soaking in a hot bath infused with these therapeutic salts allows the magnesium and sulfur to penetrate the skin, soothing muscles, detoxing the body, and easing stress.—
Alice Nardiotti,
Vogue,
10 Apr. 2025
-
Cooling, calming, and tailor-made for sensitive skin, this mask drapes delicately across your face to deliver a serious hit of cica (Centella asiatica) and allantoin—soothing redness and dryness in minutes.—
Annie Blackman,
Allure,
10 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Palliate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/palliate. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share