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Definition of "palliative" [pal•li•a•tive]

  • Tending or serving to palliate. (adjective)
  • Relieving or soothing the symptoms of a disease or disorder without effecting a cure. (adjective)
  • One that palliates, especially a palliative drug or medicine. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "palliative" in a sentence
  • "She avoided the phrase palliative care because care, she wrote, “is a soft word” that would never win respectability in the medical world."
  • "By what we term palliative treatment alone more cures are effected than by the old process of treatment with nitric acid."
  • "Rather than shirking from the term palliative care, they have thrown their weight and credibility behind it in a further effort to educate clinicians and consumers about palliative care and to reduce stigma associated with the term."