verb · academic

alleviate

/əˈliːvieɪt/al·LE·vi·ate

Band 6-7task2speaking

to make a problem, pain, or difficulty less severe

Examples

Policies were introduced to alleviate the housing shortage.

Medication can alleviate the symptoms but not cure the disease.

Community projects aim to alleviate poverty in rural areas.

Band 8 sentence

Targeted welfare initiatives can alleviate some of the structural disadvantages faced by low-income families.

Collocations

  • alleviate poverty
  • alleviate the problem
  • help alleviate

Word family

alleviation nounalleviated adj

Common mistakes

use 'reduce' in all contextsalleviate when meaning 'làm giảm nặng nề'

Say it for a higher band

5reduce6lessen7+alleviate

Synonyms

reduce

Easily confused

alleviate vs. reduce

Effective policies can alleviate social problems even if they do not reduce absolute numbers.

Related words

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In Sublist 8

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