palliative

Meanings

Adjective

• Serving to palliate; serving to extenuate or mitigate.
• Minimising the progression of a disease and relieving undesirable symptoms for as long as possible, rather than attempting to cure the (usually incurable) disease.

Noun

• Something that palliates, particularly a palliative medicine.

Origin

• From Middle French palliatif, from New Latin *palliativus, from Medieval Latin palliare, from Latin pallium.