Meringankan

Meringankan is a Indonesian verb that means to make something lighter or easier, and, more broadly, to reduce a burden, hardship, or penalty. The word is built from the adjective ringan (light, easy) with the prefix me- and the suffix -kan, forming a transitive verb that conveys causation: to cause something to become lighter.

In usage, meringankan can refer to physical lightening, such as reducing the weight or volume of an object, but it is also commonly used in figurative senses. It appears in phrases describing the reduction of burdens, costs, or difficulties, as well as in legal or administrative contexts where penalties or procedures are made less onerous. For example, it is used to discuss programs that meringankan beban biaya hidup, policies that meringankan biaya pendidikan, or legal decisions that meringankan hukuman under certain circumstances.

Common collocations include beban (burden), biaya, hidup, hukum, sanksi, and administrasi. Meringankan can be opposed by memperberat, meaning to make heavier or more burdensome. The term is widely used in formal and informal Indonesian, including government, corporate, and everyday speech, to express the act of making something less burdensome or more manageable.