Ease
What it means
To reduce the weight, pain, difficulty, or intensity of something.
Reach for it when describing a helpful change that makes a burden more manageable
A shaded rest area will ease the climb for older walkers.
Words to choose between 7
| playful | |
|---|---|
| everyday |
|
| warm | |
| professional | |
| formal |
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playful
take the edge off
Fits when a modest, temporary reduction is meant
Careful The idiom can trivialize severe pain or lasting hardship.
-
everyday
Fits when discomfort or pressure is actively removed
Careful Relieve may imply near-complete release, while ease allows a partial reduction.
-
warm
soften
Fits when harsh impact, tone, or feeling becomes gentler
Careful Softening changes quality more than quantity and may not reduce practical workload.
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warm
Fits when calm comfort is given to pain or distress
Careful Soothing may improve how something feels without changing its underlying cause.
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professional
Fits when risk or harmful effects are reduced but not removed
Careful Mitigate sounds technical and is ill suited to intimate comfort.
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professional
streamline
Fits when fewer steps or delays make a process easier
Careful A streamlined process can still leave emotional distress untouched.
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formal
Fits when naming a measured reduction in suffering or hardship
Careful Its clinical tone can feel cold in direct reassurance to a person.
Opposites 4
- worsen
- intensify
- aggravate
- burden
Common phrases 3
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ease the pressure
Two extra days should ease the pressure without lowering the standard.
-
ease concerns
The published test results helped ease concerns about the bridge.
-
ease a transition
A familiar guide can ease a transition into the new care setting.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Dvortygirl, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Updated