eased

ease  (z)

n.

1. The condition of being comfortable or relieved.

2.

a. Freedom from pain, worry, or agitation: Her mind was at ease knowing that the children were safe.

b. Freedom from constraint or embarrassment; naturalness.

3.

a. Freedom from difficulty, hardship, or effort: rose through the ranks with apparent ease.

b. Readiness or dexterity in performance; facility: a pianist who played the sonata with ease.

4. Freedom from financial difficulty; affluence: a life of luxury and ease.

5. A state of rest, relaxation, or leisure: He took his ease by the pond.

v. eased, eas·ing, eas·es

v.tr.

1. To free from pain, worry, or agitation: eased his conscience by returning the stolen money.

2.

a. To lessen the discomfort or pain of: shifted position to ease her back.

b. To alleviate; assuage: prescribed a drug to ease the pain.

3. To give respite from: eased the staff's burden by hiring more people.

4. To slacken the strain, pressure, or tension of; loosen: ease off a cable.

5. To reduce the difficulty or trouble of: eased the entrance requirements.

6. To move or maneuver slowly and carefully: eased the car into a narrow space; eased the director out of office.

v.intr.

1. To lessen, as in discomfort, pressure, or stress: pain that never eased.

2. To move or proceed with little effort: eased through life doing as little as possible.

Idiom:

at ease

1. In a relaxed position, especially standing silently at rest with the right foot stationary: put the soldiers at ease while waiting for inspection.

2. Used as a command for troops to assume a relaxed position.

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[Middle English ese, from Old French aise, elbowroom, physical comfort, from Vulgar Latin *asium.]

Thesaurus

Adj.

1.

eased - (of pain or sorrow) made easier to bear alleviated, relieved mitigated - made less severe or intense; "he gladly accepted the mitigated penalty"