relieve
to ease or alleviate (pain, distress, anxiety, need, etc.).
to free from anxiety, fear, pain, etc.
to free from need, poverty, etc.
to bring effective aid to (a besieged town, military position, etc.).
to ease (a person) of any burden, wrong, or oppression, as by legal means.
to reduce (a pressure, load, weight, etc., on a device or object under stress): to relieve the steam pressure; to relieve the stress on the supporting walls.
to make less tedious, unpleasant, or monotonous; break or vary the sameness of: curtains to relieve the drabness of the room.
to bring into relief or prominence; heighten the effect of.
to release (one on duty) by coming as or providing a substitute or replacement.
Machinery.
to free (a closed space, as a tank, boiler, etc.) of more than a desirable pressure or vacuum.
to reduce (the pressure or vacuum in such a space) to a desirable level.
Baseball. to replace (a pitcher).
Baseball. to act as a relief pitcher: He relieved in 52 games for the Pirates last season.
Idioms about relieve
to relieve oneself, to urinate or defecate.
Origin of relieve
1synonym study For relieve
Other words for relieve
Opposites for relieve
Other words from relieve
- re·liev·a·ble, adjective
- re·liev·ed·ly [ri-lee-vid-lee], /rɪˈli vɪd li/, adverb
- non·re·liev·ing, adjective
- qua·si-re·lieved, adjective
- un·re·liev·a·ble, adjective
- un·re·lieved, adjective
- un·re·liev·ed·ly, adverb
- un·re·liev·ing, adjective
Words Nearby relieve
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use relieve in a sentence
They seem to understand that what matters most in the end is whether the patient is relieved of his suffering.
How colonialism and capitalism helped place a stigma on mental illness | Balaji Ravichandran | February 12, 2021 | Washington PostDjamo relieves that stress and even allows customers to use their cards with zero fees in a wide range of services.
YC-backed Djamo is building a financial super app for consumers in Francophone Africa | Tage Kene-Okafor | February 5, 2021 | TechCrunchI was relieved to be one step safer to the people around me in the community, all the while acknowledging that my social privilege, access to technology, and vehicle had given me a major advantage.
I jumped the queue to get an expiring vaccine. Did I do the right thing? | Niall Firth | February 1, 2021 | MIT Technology ReviewAcross the region, children giggled under snowflakes while their parents said they were relieved to see some magic back in their lives.
D.C. area’s biggest snowstorm in two years brings slick roads, but much-needed respite | Katherine Shaver, Emily Davies, Lauren Lumpkin | February 1, 2021 | Washington PostThe LuxFit is also helpful for relieving back pain that crops up in the course of daily life.
“Seth kept the team together, but his constant need to relieve himself kept the team down,” says the announcer.
James Franco and Seth Rogen Get ‘Naked and Afraid’… And It’s Hilarious | Marlow Stern | December 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWomen have become more professional and independent, so a lot of them are looking at role revisal to relieve similar tensions.
Adam Kawalek went from Los Angeles to Gaza to try to relieve the suffering of the sick and wounded there.
A Gay Jewish Zionist American Doctor in Gaza and What He Saw | Itay Hod | September 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHowever, medications and therapies have been developed to relieve symptoms significantly.
The Burden Robin Williams Carried: Diagnosed With Parkinson’s and Depression | Dr. Anand Veeravagu, MD, Tej Azad | August 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTEach of these developments would be good news for Tesla and would relieve the company of billions of dollars in annual costs.
Tesla’s Radical Patent Move is a Plot to Take Over the Road | Daniel Gross | June 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWe should have to admit that the new law does little or nothing to relieve such a situation.
Readings in Money and Banking | Chester Arthur PhillipsLearn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version | VariousCiudad Rodrigo and Almeida fell without the English commander making any apparent effort to relieve them.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonDorothy had tried her best to relieve Letty of half her burthen, and in return had been made a bone of contention between them.
The World Before Them | Susanna MoodieConsequently the House gave a friendly reception to a Bill intended to relieve them of some of their pecuniary burdens.
British Dictionary definitions for relieve
/ (rɪˈliːv) /
to bring alleviation of (pain, distress, etc) to (someone)
to bring aid or assistance to (someone in need, a disaster area, etc)
to take over the duties or watch of (someone)
to bring aid or a relieving force to (a besieged town, city, etc)
to free (someone) from an obligation
to make (something) less unpleasant, arduous, or monotonous
to bring into relief or prominence, as by contrast
(foll by of) informal to take from: the thief relieved him of his watch
relieve oneself to urinate or defecate
Origin of relieve
1Derived forms of relieve
- relievable, adjective
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
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