relieve
part of speech
verb (relieve, relieves, relieved, relieving)
meaning for a pupil
1) To relieve pain, worry or a problem means to make it less or take it away. tree →
2) To relieve someone means to take over their job or duty so they can rest. tree →
3) (euphemism) To relieve yourself means to go to the toilet. tree →
4) (formal) To relieve someone of something means to take it from them. tree →
sense in the lessons
In health: medicine relieves pain; ice relieves swelling. In everyday life: guards relieve each other. In stories and humour: "relieved him of his wallet" means stole it. Phrases: relieve pain, relieve stress, relieve yourself, relieved to hear.
examples
- This cream will relieve the itching. tree →
- A walk can relieve stress. tree →
- The night nurse relieved the day nurse at eight. tree →
- The dog went outside to relieve itself. tree →
- The waiter relieved me of my heavy coat. tree →
- I was relieved to hear that my cat was safe. tree →
- I would gladly try any remedy that may relieve my pain.' tree →
note
Spelling: "i before e" — relieve, relief. Noun: relief. Adjective: relieved (feeling better after worry). "Relieve yourself" is a polite way to say go to the toilet.
In the corpora
- "Relieve oneself" is a polite way to say urinate or poo.
- Learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «relieve» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.