palliate means hidden, concealed. It carries an Arena rating of 1472, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, palliate ranks #1,139 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #1,911 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,474 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,266 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
palliate is pronounced /ˈpælieɪt/.
Why “palliate” is a great word
To relieve the severity of a disease, symptom, or offense without addressing its fundamental cause. From Latin palliātus, perfect passive participle of palliō ("to cover with a cloak"), from pallium ("a cloak"), first recorded in English use before 1425. Unlike to "cure," which implies complete elimination, or to "mitigate," which seeks generally to lessen severity, to palliate is to cloak the ailment or fault itself, often with a suggestion of disguise. It is the morphine drip easing terminal agony, the tasteful veneer applied to a structural flaw, or the carefully worded apology meant for the watching crowd—a quiet admission that the deepest wounds demand not healing, but a temporary cloak against the cold.
Etymology
The verb was inherited from Middle English palliaten (“To palliate (a disease), relieve the symptoms of (a patient); to extenuate (an offense); to conceal, hide”), the adjective and participle from its participle palliat(e); further borrowed either from Middle French pallier or directly from Latin palliātus, perfect passive participle of palliō (“to cover with a cloak”)), from pallium (“a cloak”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).
adj
- Hidden, concealed.
- (of a cure) superficial or temporary.e.g.“All his industry and sales, did in your estate make but a palliate cure.” — (Can we date this quote?), (Please provide the book title or journal name):
verb
- To relieve the symptoms of; to ameliorate.
- To hide or disguise.
- To cover or disguise the seriousness of (a mistake, offence etc.) by excuses and apologies.
- To lessen the severity of; to extenuate, moderate, qualify.e.g.“"Ah, dearest!" replied he, "your spirits are exhausted,—perhaps unconsciously oppressed with the idea of that future whose pain and whose peril I have rather heightened than palliated."” — 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXVI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 300:
- To placate or mollify.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.