What does relieve mean?
Relieve is a common English verb meaning to make something less painful, difficult, or burdensome. It is commonly used with suffering, pain, pressure, symptoms, stress, and financial hardship, as in “relieve pain” or “relieve anxiety.” The word can also mean to free a person from an obligation, as when a supervisor “relieves an employee of responsibility,” or to replace someone temporarily in a role. In less frequent formal usage, it means to discharge bodily waste. Relieve often suggests removing or easing something that has been weighing on a person or situation, while related verbs such as alleviate emphasize a reduction in severity and ease may describe a more general improvement. Its broad range of uses makes it useful for discussing medicine, emotions, work, military duties, and practical burdens.
verbTo make something less painful, difficult, or burdensome; to ease a person’s suffering or trouble. It can also mean to remove someone from a duty or responsibility, or to provide comfort or relief.
- To make suffering, pain, pressure, or difficulty less severe.
- To remove a burden, obligation, or responsibility from someone.
- To provide emotional comfort or consolation.
- To replace or dismiss someone from a post, especially a military sentry.
- To discharge bodily waste, especially in formal or euphemistic usage.
"The medicine relieved her headache and allowed her to return to work."
"A short walk helped relieve the tension in the room."
"The manager relieved the guard of duty for the night."
"She relieved herself before the long journey continued."
Relieve began with the idea of taking something back or making it lighter, and it still carries that sense: it can mean easing suffering, freeing someone from a duty, or lightening a load.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of relieve
Relieve comes from Latin relevare, formed from re- (“back” or “again”) and levare (“to lighten” or “raise”), meaning “to lighten again” or “to take away a burden.” English borrowed the word in the Middle English period, initially with meanings connected with taking away a burden or replacing a person in a duty. The development of its modern sense, making suffering or difficulty less severe, followed from the idea of lifting or lightening a load.
Related word forms
How relieve is actually used
Relieve is widely used in both formal and informal contexts. In the pattern “relieve someone of something,” it is especially common for removing a duty, responsibility, or burden. “Relieve oneself” is a formal euphemism for urinating or defecating.
Easily confused with relieve
Relieve means to ease or remove a difficulty or burden, whereas rely means to depend on someone or something.