Alleviation: meaning and SAT practice
Alleviation (noun) means: The act of making something less severe or more bearable.
Alleviation in a sentence
The medicine provided alleviation of her headache within an hour.
Similar: relief, ease, reduction, mitigation. Opposite: worsening, aggravation.
SAT-style practice: what does “alleviation” most nearly mean?
The medicine provided alleviation of her headache within an hour.
As used in the sentence, “alleviation” most nearly means
- betrayal
- suspension
- relief
- audacity
Show the answer
Answer: C. “alleviation” means: The act of making something less severe or more bearable. “relief” is the closest match in this sentence. The other choices are real SAT-level words, but none of them carries that meaning here.
On the digital SAT this is the “Words in Context” skill, about 7 of the 54 Reading and Writing questions. The test asks what a word means as used in the passage, so a word’s most common meaning is not always the answer. More of these, with full explanations, are on SAT Words in Context practice questions.
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