Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Palliate
1.
Covered with a mantle; cloaked; hidden; disguised.
[Obs.]
Bp. Hall.
2.
Eased; mitigated; alleviated.
[Obs.]
Bp. Fell.
Pal′li-ate
,Verb.
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
faultsThey never hide or
palliate
their vices. Swift.
3.
To reduce in violence; to lessen or abate; to mitigate; to ease without curing;
as, to
. palliate
a diseaseTo
palliate
dullness, and give time a shove. Cowper.
Syn. – To cover; cloak; hide; extenuate; conceal.
– 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.
Webster 1828 Edition
Palliate
PAL'LIATE
,Verb.
T.
1.
To clothe.2.
To cover with excuse; to conceal the enormity of offenses by excuses and apologies; hence, to extenuate; to lessen; to soften by favorable representations; as, to palliate faults, offenses, crimes or vices.3.
To reduce in violence; to mitigate; to lessen or abate; as, to palliate a disease.PAL'LIATE
,Adj.
Definition 2024
palliate
palliate
English
Adjective
palliate (comparative more palliate, superlative most palliate)
- (obsolete) Cloaked; hidden, concealed. [15th-17th c.]
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Bishop Hall to this entry?)
- (obsolete) Eased; mitigated; alleviated.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Bishop Fell to this entry?)
Verb
palliate (third-person singular simple present palliates, present participle palliating, simple past and past participle palliated)
- 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.
- 2009, Boris Johnson, The Evening Standard, 15 Jan 09:
- (obsolete) To hide or disguise. [16th-19th c.]
- To cover or disguise the seriousness of (a mistake, offence etc.) by excuses and apologies. [from 17th c.]
- (obsolete) To lessen the severity of; to extenuate, moderate, qualify. [17th-18th c.]
- 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 18,
- 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?
- 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 18,
- To placate or mollify. [from 17th c.]
- 2007, "Looking towards a Brown future", The Guardian, 25 Jan 07:
- 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).
- 2007, "Looking towards a Brown future", The Guardian, 25 Jan 07:
Related terms
Translations
to relieve the symptoms of
obsolete: to hide or disguise
to cover or disguise the seriousness of something by excuses and apologies
obsolete: to lessen the severity of
|
to placate or mollify
|
References
- Paternoster, Lewis M. and Frager-Stone, Ruth. Three Dimensions of Vocabulary Growth. Second Edition. Amsco School Publications: USA. 1998.
Latin
Adjective
palliāte
- vocative masculine singular of palliātus
References
- PALLIATE in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)