Wiktionary

palliate

English

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WOTD – 16 June 2010

Etymology

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From Latin palliatus (“cloaked”) (in Late Latin the past participle of palliare (“to cover with a cloak”)), from pallium (“cloak”).

Pronunciation

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  • (verb) IPA(key): /ˈpælieɪt/
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Rhymes: -ælieɪt
  • (adjective) IPA(key): /ˈpæliət/

Verb

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palliate (third-person singular simple present palliates, present participle palliating, simple past and past participle palliated)

  1. To relieve the symptoms of; to ameliorate. [from 15th c.]
    • 2009, Boris Johnson, The Evening Standard, 15 Jan 09:
      And if there are some bankers out there who are still embarrassed by the size of their bonuses, then I propose that they palliate their guilt by giving to the Mayor's Fund for London to help deprived children in London.
  2. (obsolete) To hide or disguise. [16th–19th c.]
  3. To cover or disguise the seriousness of (a mistake, offence etc.) by excuses and apologies. [from 17th c.]
    • April 5 1628, Bishop Joseph Hall, The Blessings, Sins, and Judgments of God's Vineyard
      We extenuate not our guilt : whatever we sin , we condemn it as mortal : they palliate wickedness , with the fair pretence of veniality
  4. (obsolete) To lessen the severity of; to extenuate, moderate, qualify. [17th–18th c.]
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXVI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 300:
      "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."
    • 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 18, in Billy Budd‎[1], London: Constable & Co.:
      If, mindless of palliating circumstances, we are bound to regard the death of the Master-at-arms as the prisoner's deed, then does that deed constitute a capital crime whereof the penalty is a mortal one?
  5. To placate or mollify. [from 17th c.]
    • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 65:
      Bradly stopped dead, too confounded to be appalled. Young Podson! Impossible! He had last seen young Podson, a bank clerk, on the seat of a pub verandah in an inland town ninety miles away, Bradly's last painting town. A noosance, young Podson, only to be palliated on a pub verandah after dinner.
    • 2007 January 25, “Looking towards a Brown future”, in The Guardian:
      Brown's options for the machinery of Whitehall are constrained, as for all prime ministers, by the need to palliate allies and hug enemies close (John Reid, say).
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Translations

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Adjective

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palliate (comparative more palliate, superlative most palliate)

  1. (obsolete) Cloaked; hidden, concealed. [15th–17th c.]
  2. (obsolete) Eased; mitigated; alleviated.
    • 1661, John Fell, The life of the most learned, reverend, and pious Dr. H. Hammond:
      [the] most helpful method of its Cure, which yet if palliate and imperfect would onely make way to more fatal Sickness

References

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  • Paternoster, Lewis M. and Frager-Stone, Ruth. Three Dimensions of Vocabulary Growth. Second Edition. Amsco School Publications: USA. 1998.

Italian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /palˈlja.te/
  • Rhymes: -ate
  • Hyphenation: pal‧lià‧te

Participle

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palliate

  1. feminine plural of palliato

Adjective

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palliate

  1. feminine plural of palliato

Noun

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palliate f

  1. plural of palliata

Latin

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Adjective

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palliāte

  1. vocative masculine singular of palliātus

References

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