alleviative

Alleviative is a word used as both an adjective and a noun. As an adjective, it describes something that tends to alleviate, lessen, or relieve pain, distress, or severity. As a noun, an alleviative is a substance, action, or measure that provides relief, especially of symptoms, rather than addressing underlying causes.

The term is built from allevi- plus -ative, deriving from Latin alleviare, to lighten or alleviate, with the English -ive suffix. In modern medical usage, alleviatives are distinguished from curative treatments; they encompass palliative approaches and symptom-directed therapies that improve quality of life. However, "alleviative" is relatively uncommon in everyday language, with "alleviator," "palliative," or "symptom-relief therapy" more frequently used.

In practice, alleviatives include analgesics to ease pain, antiemetics for nausea, anxiolytics for distress, and other supportive measures. Beyond medicine, the term can describe actions or policies intended to reduce hardship or severity, such as social or economic alleviatives aimed at mitigating burdens on vulnerable groups.

Some sources treat alleviatives as a general class of relief-providing measures rather than a specific category, and usage is more common in older literature or formal discourse. The term should be distinguished from alleviation as a noun form referring to the act of alleviating itself.

See also: alleviate, alleviation, analgesic, palliative, mitigant, relief agent.