To relieve means to reduce or remove something unpleasant, like pain, worry, or pressure. When a doctor gives medicine to relieve a headache, the throbbing pain lessens or goes away. When your parents relieve your anxiety about an upcoming test by helping you study, they ease your worried feelings.

The word often appears with specific troubles: you might relieve boredom by starting an interesting project, relieve stress by taking a walk, or relieve hunger by eating lunch. A substitute teacher relieves the regular teacher, taking over the classroom duties so the teacher can rest or handle other responsibilities.

Something that brings relief is a relief, like the relief you feel when you finally find your lost library book or when a fever breaks after you've been sick. The word suggests actually making the problem smaller or taking it away entirely. When you relieve someone of a burden, you're genuinely lightening their load by reducing what they have to carry or worry about.