EASE | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of ease in English easeverb uk /iːz/ us /iːz/

ease verb (MAKE LESS)

Add to word list Add to word list [ I or T ] to make or become less severe, difficult, unpleasant, painful, etc.: ease a problem To ease the problem of overcrowding, new prisons will be built.ease pain These pills should ease the pain. After the arrival of the United Nations soldiers, tension in the area began to ease.

• New measures have been introduced to ease traffic congestion in the city.
• After the Second World War lots of prefabs were put up to ease the housing crisis.
• A decisive win would certainly help to ease the pressure on the team's captain.
• This latest incident will do nothing to ease tensions between the two countries.
• The new laws are intended to ease the burden of social welfare costs.

Making things better

• add salt to something idiom
• allay
• alleviate
• alleviation
• ameliorate
• cultivate
• lift someone up phrasal verb
• lighten
• liven (something) up phrasal verb
• lube
• lubricate
• make a difference idiom
• rectify
• remedial
• repair
• repolish
• restructure
• revamp
• revitalize
• sharpen

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Becoming and making less strong

ease verb (MOVE)

[ T + adv/prep ] to move or to make something move slowly and carefully in a particular direction or into a particular position: ease something into something She eased the key into the lock, anxious not to wake anyone. I eased myself out of the chair. Slow and moving slowly

• (as) slow as molasses idiom
• at a snail's pace idiom
• by and by idiom
• by degrees idiom
• claw your way (somewhere) idiom
• crawl
• float
• inch by inch idiom
• inch towards something
• infiltrate
• infiltration
• jog
• lag
• slowpoke
• sluggardly
• sluggish
• sluggishly
• sluggishness
• wander
• worm

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Idiom

ease someone's mind

Phrasal verbs

ease up/off ease someone out easenoun [ U ] uk /iːz/ us /iːz/

ease noun [U] (NO DIFFICULTY)

the quality of needing little effort or not being difficult: with ease She won the 400 metre race with ease.for ease of The doors are extra-wide for ease of access (= so that people can get in without difficulty).

• She performed the task with her accustomed ease.
• After three months of training she was running ten miles with ease.
• They reached their targets with ease.
• Having tried the device I can vouch for its ease of use.
• Ease of access to credit cards has changed the way we shop.
• The screen is backlit for ease of reading.

Easiness and simplicity

• (as) easy as pie/ABC/anything/falling off a log idiom
• a walk in the park idiom
• accessibility
• as easy as falling off a log idiom
• at the push of a button idiom
• at the stroke of a pen idiom
• foolproof
• frictionless
• frictionlessly
• friendly
• gift
• over-simply
• painlessly
• painting
• painting by numbers idiom
• the path of least resistance idiom
• walk into something phrasal verb
• wieldy
• with your eyes closed/shut idiom
• within the capacity of someone/something

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ease noun [U] (COMFORT)

the state of being comfortable or relaxed, or free from worry or pain: They live lives of great comfort and ease. He came into the room and sat down with his usual good-natured ease.  at (your) ease B2 relaxed: He felt completely at ease. See more  at ease (of a soldier) standing with feet apart and hands behind the back: The soldiers come to attention when an officer enters the room and stand at ease when the officer allows it. See more

• She has a carefree attitude, a sense of ease.
• His life of ease had not prepared him to deal with such hardships.
• The balm seemed to give her ease.

Calm and relaxed

• (as) cool as a cucumber idiom
• at leisure idiom
• be at peace with the world idiom
• biddable
• calmly
• equilibrium
• fluidly
• free-flowing
• gaily
• genteel
• peacefully
• peacefulness
• placable
• placid
• placidly
• unpressured
• unpressurized
• unruffled
• unshockable
• unstrained

See more results » (Definition of ease from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

ease | American Dictionary

easeverb [ I/T ] us /iz/

ease verb [I/T] (LESSEN)

Add to word list Add to word list to make or become less severe, difficult, unpleasant, or painful: [ T ] These pills should ease the pain.

ease verb [I/T] (MOVE)

to move something slowly and carefully in a particular direction or into a particular position: [ I ] I eased through the crowd to the stage.

Phrasal verbs

ease up ease up easenoun [ U ] us /iz/

ease noun [U] (EASY EFFORT)

freedom from difficulty, effort, or pain: She won the match with ease (= without difficulty). He felt completely at ease (= relaxed and comfortable) with them.  at ease Soldiers who are at ease stand in a slightly relaxed position with their feet apart and their hands behind their back. (Definition of ease from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

ease | Business English

easeverb uk /iːz/ us Add to word list Add to word list [ I or T ] to make something less severe, difficult, etc. or to become less severe, difficult, etc.: ease the burden/pressure/problem He made proposals to ease the tax burden on lower earners. The rise in interest rates may prompt the government to ease fiscal policy again. the tension/pressure/crisis eases [ I ]   FINANCE to become lower in value: a rate/price eases Interbank interest rates in the domestic money market eased in the week to Nov. 15. the dollar/market eases [ I or T ] to move gradually to a different level, or to make something do this: ease back/down/upwards Freight rates eased upwards. easenoun [ U ] uk /iːz/ us the fact that something does not involve difficulty or effort: We rated the products for ease of use, quality, and price. Actuarial analysts can figure pension fund liabilities with ease. (Definition of ease from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of ease

ease To placate his enemies, restrictions on the freedom of the press were first eased and then abolished. From the Cambridge English Corpus As with the ordinary differential equation analogue, a series solution can be found for the problem and this eases the analysis in some cases. From the Cambridge English Corpus Evening field sketches eased chalk marking of the carved lines so that photographic documentation could also be accomplished with natural light. From the Cambridge English Corpus The lack of a decisive cadence at the end of the accompagnato eases the way for the duet to slide back into accompanied recitative. From the Cambridge English Corpus Short-term capital movements, however, continue to be subject to certain restrictions, although some of these have been recently eased. From the Cambridge English Corpus Nevertheless, improving economic conditions from the mid-1940s eased the problem. From the Cambridge English Corpus The accelerated learning past the first verb suggests that want was a pathbreaking verb, easing the spread of the verb-object combination to other verbs. From the Cambridge English Corpus We can define a minimal process algebra without sequential composition, and this eases the formulation of concepts such as structural induction, linearity, elimination and guardedness. From the Cambridge English Corpus Due to the axial escape of fuel, a partial hole-closure is eased, this resulting in spark trapping. From the Cambridge English Corpus Partnership eased the burden of care for parents and improved communication with agencies. From the Cambridge English Corpus We note as well that in absolute terms double imitation led to only modest improvement ; it eased but did not erase children's limitations. From the Cambridge English Corpus A corollary is that restrictions may justifiably be eased as expertise develops. From the Cambridge English Corpus We note the potential usefulness of such an organization in many areas, including aiding smoothing, easing grammar development, interfacing the extracted grammar to other components. From the Cambridge English Corpus Privation was eased by the sense of escaping from the ghetto. From the Cambridge English Corpus Thus, the maturation process for a technology clarifies indications, improves outcomes, and eases use. From the Cambridge English Corpus See all examples of ease These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with ease

ease

These are words often used in combination with ease.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

apparent easeWith the addition of wental water, the verdani are capable of producing treeships, vast trees capable of interstellar flight, and able to destroy hydrogue warglobes with apparent ease. From Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.   comparative easeShe passed her audition with comparative ease. From the Cambridge English Corpus   ease of accessSeveral methods were used to determine current service provision, numbers of individuals requiring the service, and ease of access. From the Cambridge English Corpus   These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. See all collocations with ease What is the pronunciation of ease?

Translations of ease

in Chinese (Traditional) 使變少, 減輕, 減低… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 使变少, 减轻, 减低… See more in Spanish aliviar, remitir, pasar con cuidado… See more in Portuguese aliviar, aliviar-se, facilidade… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian सहजता, सहजपणा… See more 簡単, ～が楽になる, ～を楽にする… See more kolaylık, rahatlık, hafifletmek… See more aisance [feminine], facilité [feminine], soulager… See more facilitat, alleujar, remetre… See more gemak, ongedwongenheid, verlichten… See more சிரமம், முயற்சி, வலி போன்றவற்றை அனுபவிக்காத நிலை… See more आसानी… See more સરળતા… See more velvære, bekvemmelighed, med lethed… See more välbefinnande, välbehag, lätthet… See more kesenangan, dengan mudah, bersahaja… See more die Bequemlichkeit, die Leichtigkeit, die Ungezwungenheit… See more letthet [masculine], sorgløshet [masculine], lindre… See more آسانی, سہولت… See more спокій, вдоволення, легкість… See more సులభంగా… See more আরাম, স্বাচ্ছন্দ্য, কোন অসুবিধা… See more pohoda, snadnost, lehkost… See more bebas, mudah, wajar… See more ไร้ความเจ็บปวด, ความกังวล, งานที่หนัก… See more sự dễ chịu, sự dễ dàng, sự thoải mái… See more łatwość, łagodzić, łagodnieć… See more 쉬움, (고통등이) 덜해지다… See more facilità, alleviare, alleviarsi… See more Need a translator?

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earwig earwitness earworm Easdaq ease ease someone out phrasal verb ease someone's mind idiom ease up phrasal verb ease up/off phrasal verb {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of ease

• ease up phrasal verb
• ease up/off phrasal verb
• ease someone out phrasal verb
• at ease phrase
• at (your) ease phrase
• ill at ease idiom
• ease someone's mind idiom

See all meanings

• ease up phrasal verb
• ease up/off phrasal verb
• ease someone out phrasal verb

See all phrasal verb meanings

• at ease phrase
• at (your) ease phrase
• ill at ease idiom
• ease someone's mind idiom
• be ill at ease idiom
• set/put someone's mind at rest/ease idiom

See all idioms and phrases

Word of the Day

red velvet cake

UK /ˌred ˈvel.vɪt ˌkeɪk/ US /ˌred ˈvel.vɪt ˌkeɪk/

a type of chocolate cake made with vinegar, buttermilk and red food colouring, with cream cheese icing on top

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• English   
  • Verb 
    • ease (MAKE LESS)
    • ease (MOVE)
  • Noun 
    • ease (NO DIFFICULTY)
    • ease (COMFORT)
    • at (your) ease
    • at ease
• American   
  • Verb 
    • ease (LESSEN)
    • ease (MOVE)
  • Noun 
    • ease (EASY EFFORT)
    • at ease
• Business   VerbNoun
• Examples
• Collocations

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