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Anodyne vs Palliative - What's the difference?

anodyne | palliative | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between anodyne and palliative

is that anodyne is capable of soothing or eliminating pain while palliative is serving to palliate; serving to extenuate or mitigate.

As nouns the difference between anodyne and palliative

is that anodyne is any medicine or other agent that relieves pain while palliative is something that palliates, particularly a palliative medicine.

anodyne

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Capable]] of [[soothe, soothing or eliminating pain.
  • * 1847 , Littell's Living Age , number 161, 12 June 1847, in Volume 13, page 483:
  • Many a time has the vapor of ether been inhaled for the relief of oppressed lungs; many a time has the sought relief been thus obtained; and just so many times has the discovery of the wonderful anodyne properties of this gas, as affecting all bodily suffering, been brushed past and overlooked.
  • * 1910 , Edward L. Keyes, Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs , page 211:
  • The citrate is the most efficient as an alkali, but irritates some stomachs, the liquor the most anodyne , the acetate the most diuretic.
  • (figuratively) Soothing or relaxing.
  • Classical music is rather anodyne .
  • Noncontentious, blandly agreeable, unlikely to cause offence or debate; bland, inoffensive.
  • * 2003 , The Guardian , 20 May 2003:
  • It all became so routine, so anodyne , so dull.
  • * 2010 , "Rattled", The Economist , 9 Dec 2010:
  • States typically like to stick to anodyne messages, like saving wildflowers or animals. But every so often a controversy crops up.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (pharmacology) Any medicine or other agent that relieves pain.
  • (figuratively) A source of relaxation or comfort.
  • *1890 , (Oscar Wilde), The Picture of Dorian Gray , ch. VII:
  • *:The air was heavy with the perfume of the flowers, and their beauty seemed to bring him an anodyne for his pain.
  • *1929 , (Virginia Woolf), A Room of One's Own , page 79:
  • So, with a sigh, because novels so often provide an anodyne and not an antidote, glide one into torpid slumbers instead of rousing one with a burning brand.

    Derived terms

    * anodynia * anodynous

    References

    * *

    Anagrams

    *

    palliative

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Serving to palliate; serving to extenuate or mitigate.
  • (medicine) Minimising the progression of a disease and relieving undesirable symptoms for as long as possible, rather than attempting to cure the (usually incurable) disease.
  • Synonyms

    * (medicine)

    Coordinate terms

    * (medicine) analgesic, lenitive

    See also

    * (Palliative care)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (medicine) Something that palliates, particularly a palliative medicine.
  • The radiation and chemotherapy were only palliatives .