palliative
noun/ˈpæliətɪv/
/ˈpæliətɪv/
- (medical) a medicine or medical treatment that reduces pain without curing its cause
- Aromatherapy can be used as a palliative.
Wordfinder
- (formal, usually disapproving) an action, a decision, etc. that is designed to make a difficult situation seem better without actually solving the cause of the problems
- Grants by themselves provide little more than a temporary palliative to ailing industries.
Word Originlate Middle English (as an adjective): from French palliatif, -ive or medieval Latin palliativus, from the verb palliare ‘to cloak’, from pallium ‘cloak’.
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palliative