alleviate

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The Word of the Day for November 17 is: 

alleviate   \uh-LEE-vee-ayt\   verb
     : relieve, lessen: as *a : to make (as suffering) more bearable b : to 
partially remove or correct 

Example sentence:
     Mom suggested that ibuprofen and tea would perhaps alleviate some of the 
misery of my cold.

Did you know?
     "Alleviate" derives from the past participle of Late Latin "alleviare" 
("to lighten or relieve"), which in turn was formed by combining the prefix 
"ad-" and the adjective "levis," a Latin word meaning "light" or "having little 
weight." ("Levis" comes from the same ancient word that gave rise to that 
"light" in English.) We acquired "alleviate" in the 15th century, and for the 
first few centuries the word could mean either "to cause (something) to have 
less weight" or "to make (something) more tolerable." The literal "make 
lighter" sense is no longer used, however, so today we have only the "relieve" 
sense. Incidentally, not only is "alleviate" a synonym of "relieve," it's also 
a cousin; "relieve" comes from "levare" ("to raise"), which in turn comes from 
"levis."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.