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pal·li·a·tive | \ ˈpa-lē-ˌā-tiv 
, ˈpal-yə- \
, ˈpal-yə- \Definition of palliative
(Entry 1 of 2)
: serving to palliate palliative surgery palliative care palliative drugs
palliative
nounDefinition of palliative (Entry 2 of 2)
: something that palliates
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Examples of palliative in a Sentence
Noun
The disease has no cure, but a number of palliatives exist.
Travel is like a palliative against depression for him.
symbolic palliatives for inner-city troubles
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Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective And this was week two of my job as a palliative-care practitioner.
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Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, "How One Hospital Handles So Much Death," 16 June 2020 People receiving palliative care are usually very sick.
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Sara Harrison, Wired, "When Doctors and Patients Talk About Death Over Zoom," 15 June 2020 As of now, just as long as what is offered is a genuine palliative product, things are fine.
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Hiren Mansukhani, Quartz India, "With turmeric milk and sanitiser dispensers, Indian businesses are trying to cash in on Covid-19," 14 June 2020 In this era, approaches to corporate citizenship can no longer be palliative.
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Fortune, "4 ways companies can thrive in the COVID-19 economy, according to philanthropy strategists," 4 June 2020 At the time, heart surgery was largely palliative because the heart had to function during the operation.
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A. J. Baime, Car and Driver, "Will the American Auto Industry Save Us All (Again)?," 31 Mar. 2020 For certain medieval religious women, palliative caregiving was a key feature of their spiritual identities.
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Adam J. Davis, The Conversation, "From pews to patients – churches have long served as hospitals, particularly in times of crisis," 27 Apr. 2020 These systems should also include palliative care and hospice as appropriate.
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Janice John, STAT, "Our hospital’s community management strategy for Covid-19 works. Yours can, too," 23 Apr. 2020 For those who may not survive, palliative care is essential to help relieve pain, difficulty breathing, and other symptoms, and support psychological and spiritual distress.
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Kelly Michelson, STAT, "If it comes to rationing, I shouldn’t have to be the one deciding who should live and who should die," 2 Apr. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun These are palliative treatments, and sometimes therapeutic, but my SSRIs are essential.
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Stuart Leach, Washington Post, "He just wanted a new prescription. He ended up in the psych ward instead.," 25 Mar. 2018 Giving their all Heather Martin is a nurse practitioner working with Goodenough on Methodist's palliative care team, working with patients and their families to create care and quality-of-life planning.
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Holly V. Hays, Indianapolis Star, "A chaplain listened to family of a coronavirus victim sob through the phone. Then he wept.," 22 Apr. 2020 Under the triage criteria, which the Alabama Department of Public Health initially drafted in 2009, many patients could be denied access to ventilators and instead relegated to in-patient or home palliative care.
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Connor Sheets | Csheets@al.com, al, "‘Last resort’: Alabama’s plan for deciding which coronavirus patients get ventilators," 24 Mar. 2020 In any given moment, one woman’s palliative might be another’s saccharine TV toothache.
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Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, "Why You Can’t Stop Streaming Seinfeld. Or Frasier. Or Bones.," 22 Mar. 2020 His route to providing palliative care was a circuitous one.
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Jiayang Fan, The New Yorker, "China’s Struggles with Hospice Care," 30 Mar. 2020 Razzak said his institution is training other health staff to deliver palliative care.
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Liz Szabo, USA TODAY, "Shortage of palliative care in the US could amplify suffering for coronavirus patients," 26 Mar. 2020 This language is not quite right: even the most rudimentary or resource-strapped clinical treatment affords palliative care and comfort, and bears witness.
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Laura Kolbe, The New York Review of Books, "What ‘Distributive Justice’ Means for Doctors Treating Covid-19," 19 Mar. 2020 Helix is running clinical trials on new technologies and services that help stroke survivors recover, and provide support in dementia care and palliative care.
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Jenny Anderson, Quartz, "Coronavirus risks making older people lonelier than they already are," 12 Mar. 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'palliative.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for palliative
palliative
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of palliative
medical : something that reduces the effects or symptoms of a medical condition without curing it
formal : something that is intended to make a bad situation seem better but that does not really improve the situation
See the full definition for palliative in the English Language Learners Dictionary
palliative
adjectivepal·lia·tive | \ ˈpal-ē-ˌāt-iv , ˈpal-yət- \
, ˈpal-yət- \Medical Definition of palliative
(Entry 1 of 2)
: reducing the severity of a disease or condition without curing it : providing palliative care palliative treatment Although valve replacement is an important advance in the treatment of patients with valve disease, it is a palliative rather than a curative procedure.— Robert A. O'Rourke, The Journal of the American Medical Association, 13 Aug. 1982
palliative
nounMedical Definition of palliative (Entry 2 of 2)
: something that reduces the severity of a disease or condition without curing it
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Time Traveler for palliative
The first known use of palliative was in the 15th century
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