alleviate

/ə-ˈlē-vē-ˌāt/

Late Latin alleviatus, past participle of alleviare, from Latin ad- + levis light

verb

  1. relieve, lessen: such as

  2. to make (something, such as pain or suffering) more bearable

  3. to partially remove or correct (something undesirable)

a drug that alleviates the symptoms

relieve alleviate lighten assuage mitigate allay mean to make something less grievous. relieve implies a lifting of enough of a burden to make it tolerable. alleviate implies temporary or partial lessening of pain or distress.