It’s used incorrectly in each of the following examples: Tip: Before using a synonym from a list, look the synonym up in a dictionary to verify that it means the same thing as the word you are replacing.Ī Google search reveals that a great many bloggers and commenters are confused about the meaning of alleviate. Restating Lincoln freed the slaves as, Lincoln alleviated the slaves, however, is not an option. With little change in meaning, one can say either, This medicine alleviates arthritis pain, or, This medicine relieves arthritis pain. Relieve can also mean ‘to free or clear (a person) of or from an obligation.”Īlleviate, on the other hand, is pretty much limited to one meaning, “to make (pain, suffering, etc.) less severe.” Like alleviate, relieve can mean “to ease or mitigate (pain, distress, or difficulty) to make (a condition) less burdensome.” Synonym lists are great tools, but they can be the source of error to the unwary.Īlthough alleviate can be used as a synonym for relieve in some contexts, the two are not invariably interchangeable. Understandable, but deadly to your credibility as a professional writer. You would reach for the dictionary to find a synonym for “relieve” and discover “alleviate.” You are working to meet a deadline, so you keep going without further thought. Uh-oh! Two reliefs and a relieved in the same paragraph.

The arrest of George Shulan relieved me from any further duty In rereading the paragraph, you notice the following:Īny relief I might’ve felt was negated by the unresolved mystery… The writer was doing what we all do in revision: seeking to avoid repetition of the same or similar words in close proximity. I say this because both relief and free occur in the same paragraph from which the example is taken. I’m willing to bet that the author wrote either relieved or freed in the first draft and that alleviated slipped in during revision. The writer’s meaning is that the speaker has been freed from an obligation. Trevelyan I was free to leave… – Lack of Temperance, Anna Loan-Wilsey, Kensington Books (2012), p.

The arrest of George Shulan alleviated me from any further duty towards Mrs. I recently came across the inappropriate use of alleviate in a mystery novel: Relieve: When a Synonym Isn’t By Maeve Maddox

Relive synonym