alleviate: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for November 17 is:

alleviate \uh-LEE-vee-ayt\ verb
: relieve, lessen: as *a : to make (as suffering) more bearable b : to partially remove or correct

Example sentence:
Mom suggested that ibuprofen and tea would perhaps alleviate some of the misery of my cold.

Did you know?
"Alleviate" derives from the past participle of Late Latin "alleviare" ("to lighten or relieve"), which in turn was formed by combining the prefix "ad-" and the adjective "levis," a Latin word meaning "light" or "having little weight." ("Levis" comes from the same ancient word that gave rise to that "light" in English.) We acquired "alleviate" in the 15th century, and for the first few centuries the word could mean either "to cause (something) to have less weight" or "to make (something) more tolerable." The literal "make lighter" sense is no longer used, however, so today we have only the "relieve" sense. Incidentally, not only is "alleviate" a synonym of "relieve," it's also a cousin; "relieve" comes from "levare" ("to raise"), which in turn comes from "levis."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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