overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

relieve.

To ease (a person, person's thoughts etc.) from mental distress; to stop (someone) feeling anxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɹɪˈliːv/
  1. To ease (a person, person's thoughts etc.) from mental distress; to stop (someone) feeling anxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of.

    transitive
    I was greatly relieved by the jury's verdict.
  2. To ease (someone, a part of the body etc.) or give relief from physical pain or discomfort.

    transitive
  3. To alleviate (pain, distress, mental discomfort etc.).

    transitive
  4. To provide comfort or assistance to (someone in need, especially in poverty).

    transitive
  5. To lift up; to raise again.

    obsolete
  6. To raise (someone) out of danger or from (a specified difficulty etc.).

    archaic
  7. To free (someone) from debt or legal obligations; to give legal relief to.

    This shall not relieve either Party of any obligations.
  8. To bring military help to (a besieged town); to lift the siege on.

    transitive
  9. To release (someone) from or of a difficulty, unwanted task, responsibility etc.

  10. To free (someone) from their post, task etc. by taking their place.

  11. To make (something) stand out; to make prominent, bring into relief.

    archaic
  12. To urinate or defecate.

    euphemistic · reflexive
  13. To ease one's own desire to orgasm, often through masturbation to orgasm.

    euphemistic · reflexive
Where this word comes from

From Late Middle English releven, from Old French relever, specifically from the conjugated forms such as (jeo) relieve (“I lift up”), and its source, Latin relevo (“to lift up, lighten, relieve, alleviate”), combined form of re- (“back”) + levo (“to lift”). Doublet of relevate. Compare levant, levity, etc.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

relieve has 7 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

relieve studiorelieve workshello, relieve

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.