Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

ease

[eez]
See more synonyms for ease on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. freedom from labor, pain, or physical annoyance; tranquil rest; comfort: to enjoy one's ease.
  2. freedom from concern, anxiety, or solicitude; a quiet state of mind: to be at ease about one's health.
  3. freedom from difficulty or great effort; facility: It can be done with ease.
  4. freedom from financial need; plenty: a life of ease on a moderate income.
  5. freedom from stiffness, constraint, or formality; unaffectedness: ease of manner; the ease and elegance of her poetry.
Show More
verb (used with object), eased, eas·ing.
  1. to free from anxiety or care: to ease one's mind.
  2. to mitigate, lighten, or lessen: to ease pain.
  3. to release from pressure, tension, or the like.
  4. to move or shift with great care: to ease a car into a narrow parking space.
  5. to render less difficult; facilitate: I'll help if it will ease your job.
  6. to provide (an architectural member) with an easement.
  7. Shipbuilding. to trim (a timber of a wooden hull) so as to fair its surface into the desired form of the hull.
  8. Nautical.
    1. to bring (the helm or rudder of a vessel) slowly amidships.
    2. to bring the head of (a vessel) into the wind.
    3. to slacken or lessen the hold upon (a rope).
    4. to lessen the hold of (the brake of a windlass).
Show More
verb (used without object), eased, eas·ing.
  1. to abate in severity, pressure, tension, etc. (often followed by off or up).
  2. to become less painful, burdensome, etc.
  3. to move, shift, or be moved or be shifted with great care.
Show More
Verb Phrases
  1. ease out, to remove from a position of authority, a job, or the like, especially by methods intended to be tactful: He was eased out as division head to make way for the boss's nephew.
Show More
Idioms
  1. at ease, Military. a position of rest in which soldiers may relax but may not leave their places or talk.
Show More

Origin of ease

1175–1225; (noun) Middle English ese, eise < Anglo-French ese, Old French aise, eise comfort, convenience < Vulgar Latin *adjace(m), accusative of *adjacēs vicinity (compare Medieval Latin in aiace in (the) vicinity), the regular outcome of Latin adjacēns adjacent, taken in VL as a noun of the type nūbēs, accusative nūbem cloud; (v.) Middle English esen < Anglo-French e(i)ser, Old French aisier, derivative of the noun
Related formsself-ease, nounself-eas·ing, adjectivewell-eased, adjective

Synonyms

See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com
1. repose, contentment, effortlessness. 2. tranquillity, serenity, calmness, peace. 5. naturalness, informality. 6. comfort, relieve, disburden; tranquilize, soothe. 7. alleviate, assuage, allay, abate, reduce.

Synonym study

1. Ease, comfort refer to a sense of relaxation or of well-being. Ease implies a relaxed condition with an absence of effort or pressure: a life of ease. Comfort suggests a sense of well-being, along with ease, which produces a quiet happiness and contentment: comfort in one's old age.

Antonyms

1. discomfort, effort. 2. disturbance. 5. stiffness, formality, tenseness.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

mitigatemoderaterelaxspeedrelievelessensoftensoothesimplifyliftcalmabateamelioratefurtherallaypromotefacilitateexpediteimproveloosen

Examples from the Web for eased

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • It has eased my joints, which were somewhat stiff from these years of peace.

    The White Company

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • Adams leaned back in his chair as though her absurdity had eased his mind.

    Alice Adams

    Booth Tarkington

  • And even as they eased him down upon the blankets his snores were rising on the frosty air.

    White Fang

    Jack London

  • Now that the issue was out in the open his discomfort was eased.

    Reel Life Films

    Samuel Kimball Merwin

  • I thought it was an echo at first, then realized that someone had eased in the door behind me.

    Arm of the Law

    Harry Harrison

British Dictionary definitions for eased

ease

noun
  1. freedom from discomfort, worry, or anxiety
  2. lack of difficulty, labour, or awkwardness; facility
  3. rest, leisure, or relaxation
  4. freedom from poverty or financial embarrassment; affluencea life of ease
  5. lack of restraint, embarrassment, or stiffnesshis ease of manner disarmed us
  6. at ease military
    1. (of a standing soldier, etc) in a relaxed position with the feet apart and hands linked behind the back
    2. a command to adopt such a position
    3. in a relaxed attitude or frame of mind
Show More
verb
  1. to make or become less burdensome
  2. (tr) to relieve (a person) of worry or care; comfort
  3. (tr) to make comfortable or give rest to
  4. (tr) to make less difficult; facilitate
  5. to move or cause to move into, out of, etc, with careful manipulationto ease a car into a narrow space
  6. (when intr, often foll by off or up) to lessen or cause to lessen in severity, pressure, tension, or strain; slacken, loosen, or abate
  7. ease oneself or ease nature archaic, euphemistic to urinate or defecate
  8. ease the helm nautical to relieve the pressure on the rudder of a vessel, esp by bringing the bow into the wind
Show More
Derived Formseaser, noun

Word Origin

C13: from Old French aise ease, opportunity, from Latin adjacēns neighbouring (area); see adjacent
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for eased

ease

v.

c.1300, "to help, assist," see ease (n.). Meaning "to give ease" is from mid-14c.; the sense of "to relax one's efforts" is from 1863. Farmer reports ease in a slang sense of "to content a woman" sexually, with an 1861 date. Related: Eased; easing.

Show More

ease

n.

early 13c., from Old French aise "comfort, pleasure, well-being; opportunity," of unknown origin, despite attempts to link it to various Latin verbs.

The earliest senses in French appear to be 1. "elbow-room" (from an 11th century Hebrew-French glossary) and 2. "opportunity." This led Sophus Bugge to suggest an origin in Vulgar Latin asa, a shortened form of Latin ansa "handle," which could be used in the figurative sense of "opportunity, occasion," as well as being a possible synonym for "elbow," because Latin ansatus "furnished with handles" also was used to mean "having the arms akimbo." OED editors report this theory, and write, "This is not very satisfactory, but it does not appear that any equally plausible alternative has yet been proposed."

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with eased

ease

In addition to the idioms beginning with ease

  • ease off
  • ease out

also see:

  • at ease
  • ill at ease

Also see undereasilyeasy.

Show More
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.