3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Palliate  \Pal"li*ate\,  a.  [L.  palliatus  fr  pallium  a  cloak. 
  See  {Pall}  the  garment.] 
  1.  Covered  with  a  mant?e;  cloaked;  disguised.  [Obs.]  --Bp. 
  Hall. 
 
  2.  Eased;  mitigated;  alleviated.  [Obs.]  --Bp.  Fell. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Palliate  \Pal"li*ate\,  v.  t.  [imp.  &  p.  p.  {Palliated};  p.  pr  & 
  vb  n.  {Palliating}.] 
  1.  To  cover  with  a  mantle  or  cloak;  to  cover  up  to  hide. 
  [Obs.] 
 
  Being  palliated  with  a  pilgrim's  coat.  --Sir  T. 
  Herbert. 
 
  2.  To  cover  with  excuses;  to  conceal  the  enormity  of  by 
  excuses  and  apologies;  to  extenuate;  as  to  palliate 
  faults. 
 
  They  never  hide  or  palliate  their  vices.  --Swift. 
 
  3.  To  reduce  in  violence;  to  lessen  or  abate;  to  mitigate;  to 
  ease  withhout  curing;  as  to  palliate  a  disease. 
 
  To  palliate  dullness,  and  give  time  a  shove. 
  --Cowper. 
 
  Syn:  To  cover;  cloak;  hide;  extenuate;  conceal. 
 
  Usage:  To  {Palliate},  {Extenuate},  {Cloak}.  These  words  as 
  here  compared,  are  used  in  a  figurative  sense  in 
  reference  to  our  treatment  of  wrong  action  We  cloak 
  in  order  to  conceal  completely.  We  extenuate  a  crime 
  when  we  endeavor  to  show  that  it  is  less  than  has  been 
  supposed;  we  palliate  a  crime  when  we  endeavor  to 
  cover  or  conceal  its  enormity,  at  least  in  part  This 
  naturally  leads  us  to  soften  some  of  its  features,  and 
  thus  palliate  approaches  extenuate  till  they  have 
  become  nearly  or  quite  identical.  ``To  palliate  is  not 
  now  used  though  it  once  was  in  the  sense  of  wholly 
  cloaking  or  covering  over  as  it  might  be  our  sins, 
  but  in  that  of  extenuating;  to  palliate  our  faults  is 
  not  to  hide  them  altogether,  but  to  seek  to  diminish 
  their  guilt  in  part.''  --Trench. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  palliate 
  v  1:  lessen  or  to  try  to  lessen  the  seriousness  or  extent  of 
  "The  circumstances  extenuate  the  crime"  [syn:  {extenuate}, 
  {mitigate}] 
  2:  provide  physical  relief,  as  from  pain;  "This  pill  will 
  relieve  your  headaches"  [syn:  {relieve},  {alleviate},  {assuage}] 

browse words by letter
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z