different between tranquilize vs alleviate

English

Alternative forms

• tranquillize, tranquilise, tranquillise

Etymology

From Middle French tranquiliser

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?t?æ?kw?la?z/
• Hyphenation: tran?quil?ize

Verb

tranquilize (third-person singular simple present tranquilizes, present participle tranquilizing, simple past and past participle tranquilized)

1. (transitive) To calm (a person or animal) or put them to sleep using a drug.

   Synonym: sedate

   • 1962, Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, New York: Dial, p. 255,^[2]

     Miss Ratched shall line us all against the wall, where we’ll face the terrible maw of a muzzle-loading shotgun which she has loaded with Miltowns! Thorazines! Libriums! Stelazines! And with a wave of her sword, blooie! Tranquilize all of us completely out of existence.

   • 1962, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Chapter 2, p. 13,^[3]

     When the public protests, confronted with some obvious evidence of damaging results of pesticide applications, it is fed little tranquilizing pills of half truth.

2. (transitive, now literary) To make (something or someone) tranquil.

   Synonyms: appease, calm, pacify

   • 1779, Frances Burney, Evelina, Dublin: Price, Corcoran et al., Volume 2, Letter 14, p. 87,^[4]

     […] with words of sweetest kindness and consolation, he soothed and tranquilised me.

   • 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Letter 1,^[5]

     […] I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose,—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.

   • 1865, G. O. Trevelyan, Cawnpore, London: Macmillan, Chapter 5, p. 322,^[6]

     The column was placed under the orders of Major Renaud, who pushed up the road; fighting as occasion offered; tranquillizing the country by the very simple expedient of hanging everybody who showed signs of insubordination […]

   • 1931, E. F. Benson, Mapp and Lucia, Chapter 4,^[7]

     Supported by an impregnable sense of justice but still dangerously fuming, Lucia went back to her garden-room, to tranquillize herself with an hour’s practice on the new piano.

   • 1995, Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, Chapter 11, p. 497,^[8]

     But time had tranquillized Dina’s worries about the landlord.

3. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To become tranquil.

   Synonyms: calm down, relax

   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, London, Volume 5, Letter 1, p. 11,^[9]

     Seest thou not, that this unseasonable gravity is admitted to quell the palpitations of this unmanageable heart? But still it will go on with its boundings. I’ll try, as I ride in my chariot, to tranquillize.

Antonyms

• madden

Derived terms

• tranquilization
• tranquilizer

Translations

References

Portuguese

Verb

tranquilize

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of tranquilizar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of tranquilizar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of tranquilizar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of tranquilizar

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin alleviatus, past participle of alleviare (“to lighten”) (ad- (“towards”) + levis (“light”)). Doublet of alegge.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??li.vi.e?t/

Verb

alleviate (third-person singular simple present alleviates, present participle alleviating, simple past and past participle alleviated)

1. (transitive) To make less severe, as a pain or difficulty.

   Alcohol is often a cheap tool to alleviate the stress of a hard day.

Usage notes

Particularly used of pain or difficulty, with connotations of “lightening a load”.

Synonyms

• address, allay, ameliorate, assuage, ease, mitigate, relieve

Antonyms

• (to make less severe): aggravate

Related terms

Translations

Italian

Verb

alleviate

1. second-person plural present subjunctive of allevare
2. second-person plural present indicative of alleviare
3. second-person plural imperative of alleviare
4. second-person plural present subjunctive of alleviare
5. feminine plural of alleviato

Anagrams

• alleatevi

Latin

Participle

allevi?te

1. vocative masculine singular of allevi?tus