palliative

Universal Words noun 1 (medical) a medicine or medical treatment that reduces pain without curing its cause: Aromatherapy can be used as a palliative. 2 (formal, usually disapproving) an action, a decision, etc. that is designed to make a difficult situation seem better without actually solving the cause of the problems: Grants by themselves provide little more than a temporary palliative to ailing industries. palliative adjective [usuallybeforenoun]: palliative treatment * short-term palliative measures