palliative

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   relieving pain or other symptoms without curing the underlying disease

   The team offered palliative treatment to keep the patient comfortable.

2. 2
   noun

   a medicine, treatment, or measure that eases a problem without removing its cause

   The emergency grant was only a temporary palliative for the housing shortage.

3. 3
   adj

   serving to make a difficult condition less severe without solving it

   Price controls may have a palliative effect, but they do not increase supply.

From French palliatif and Medieval Latin palliativus, from palliare, 'to cloak,' based on Latin pallium, 'cloak.' A palliative was therefore something that covered or softened an illness or problem rather than eliminating its cause.

Topics