- (
medical )医学 a medicine or medical treatment that reduces pain without curing its cause 治标药物;缓解剂;治标措施;保守疗法 Aromatherapy can be used as a palliative. 芳香疗法可以用作姑息疗法。
- (formal, usually disapproving)
an action, a decision, etc. that is designed to make a difficult situation seem better without actually solving the cause of the problems 权宜之计;消极措施;缓冲剂 Grants by themselves provide little more than a temporary palliative to ailing industries. 赠款本身只能为境况不佳的行业提供暂时的缓解手段。
Word Originlate Middle English (as an adjective): from French palliatif, -ive or medieval Latin palliativus, from the verb palliare ‘to cloak’, from pallium ‘cloak’.