remissive

The doctor prescribed a remissive medication for the patient's symptoms.

Definition

Adjective:
- Tending to diminish or relax: "remissive" describes something that causes a reduction in intensity, severity, or tension; it is related to the idea of making something less strict, intense, or painful. This word is rare and formal, often used in medical or figurative contexts.

Usage Examples

Adjective:
- After applying the ointment, the patient experienced a remissive effect on the swelling. (The ointment caused the swelling to decrease.)
- The remissive tone of the speech helped calm the angry crowd. (The speech's gentle, relaxing quality reduced the tension.)
- A remissive policy was adopted to ease trade restrictions. (A policy that relaxed or reduced strict rules.)

Advanced Usage

"remissive of": indicating a tendency to lessen or release something.
- The drug is remissive of pain and anxiety. (It reduces or alleviates both pain and anxiety.)
"remissive power": the ability or capacity to diminish or relax.
- The remissive power of meditation on stress is well-documented. (Meditation's ability to reduce stress.)

Variants and Related Words

Remission (noun): the act of reducing or ending something, especially a disease or debt; a temporary or permanent decrease in symptoms.
- The patient's cancer went into remission. (The symptoms of the disease lessened or disappeared.)
Remit (verb): to send (money) in payment; to forgive or cancel (a debt or punishment); to diminish or relax in intensity.
- The pain began to remit after treatment. (The pain started to decrease.)
Remissive (adj): see definition above; also related to "remit" in the sense of slackening.

Synonyms

Related Idioms

"To remit one's efforts": to slacken or reduce one's level of effort.
- After the deadline passed, he remitted his efforts on the project. (He reduced his work intensity.)
- Note: This idiom uses the verb "remit," not "remissive," but shares the same root meaning of lessening.

Antonyms