Synonyms for relieve

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verb

To replace
release, remove, take over for, cover for, spell*, discharge, force to resign; see also dismiss 1, 2, substitute 2.
To lessen
assuage, alleviate, soothe, comfort, allay, lighten, mitigate, ease, divert, free, soften, diminish, reduce, console, cure, aid, assist; see also decrease 2, help 1.

relieve implies the reduction of misery, discomfort, or tediousness sufficiently to make it bearable they played a game to relieve the monotony of the trip; alleviate implies temporary relief, suggesting that the source of the misery remains unaffected drugs to alleviate the pain; lighten implies a cheering reduction of the weight of oppression or depression nothing can lighten the burden of our grief; assuage suggests a softening or pacifying influence in lessening pain or distress, calming anger or passion, etc. her kind words assuaged his resentment; mitigate implies a moderating or making milder of that which is likely to cause pain to mitigate a punishment; allay suggests an effective, although temporary or incomplete, calming or quieting we've allayed their suspicions

See relieve in Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus II

verb

To make less severe or more bearable:
allay, alleviate, assuage, comfort, ease, lessen, lighten², mitigate, palliate. See increase
To free from or cast out something objectionable or undesirable:
clear, disburden, disembarrass, disencumber, release, rid, shake off, throw off, unburden. (Slang) shake. See keep
To give support or assistance:
abet, aid, assist, boost, help (out), succor. Idioms: give (or lend) a hand, give a leg up. See help
To free from an obligation or duty:
absolve, discharge, dispense, excuse, exempt, let off, spare. See free
To free from a specific duty by acting as a substitute:
spell³, take over. See substitute

See relieve in American Heritage Dictionary 4 Synonyms

relieve allay alleviate assuage lighten ²mitigate palliate

These verbs mean to make something less severe or more bearable. To relieve is to make more endurable something causing discomfort or distress: “that misery which he strives in vain to relieve” (Henry David Thoreau).
Allay suggests at least temporary relief from what is burdensome or painful: “This music crept by me upon the waters,/Allaying both their fury and my passion/With its sweet air” (Shakespeare).
Alleviate connotes temporary lessening of distress without removal of its cause: “No arguments shall be wanting on my part that can alleviate so severe a misfortune” (Jane Austen).
To assuage is to soothe or make milder: assuaged his guilt by confessing to the crime.
Lighten signifies to make less heavy or oppressive: legislation that would lighten the taxpayer's burden.
Mitigate and palliate connote moderating the force or intensity of something that causes suffering: “I … prayed to the Lord to mitigate a calamity” (John Galt). “Men turn to him in the hour of distress, as of all statesmen the most fitted to palliate it” (William E.H. Lecky).

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