alleviate poverty

Meaning

This formal collocation means to make the state of being extremely poor less severe or more bearable. It does not necessarily mean to completely eliminate poor conditions, but rather to improve the situation and reduce suffering. It is heavily used in economic, political, and humanitarian contexts.

Examples

• The government introduced microfinance initiatives designed to alleviate poverty in rural areas.

  The government introduced microfinance initiatives designed to alleviate poverty in rural areas.

• Charitable organizations work tirelessly to alleviate poverty by providing clean water and education.

  Charitable organizations work tirelessly to alleviate poverty by providing clean water and education.

• Economic growth alone is sometimes not enough to alleviate poverty without targeted social programs.

  Economic growth alone is sometimes not enough to alleviate poverty without targeted social programs.

• The main goal of the international aid package is to alleviate poverty in developing nations.

  The main goal of the international aid package is to alleviate poverty in developing nations.

• Investments in public infrastructure can create jobs and help to alleviate poverty.

  Investments in public infrastructure can create jobs and help to alleviate poverty.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ The new global strategy aims to alleviate of poverty.

  ✓ The new global strategy aims to alleviate poverty.

  'Alleviate' is a transitive verb. It takes a direct object immediately without any intervening preposition like 'of'.

• ✗ We must elevate poverty in these struggling neighborhoods.

  ✓ We must alleviate poverty in these struggling neighborhoods.

  Learners often confuse 'alleviate' (to lessen/relieve) with 'elevate' (to raise/lift), which completely changes the meaning to the opposite.

Related Expressions

Practice

• The United Nations has launched several global initiatives to ___ in war-torn regions.

  💡 Use the C1 collocation that means to make poor conditions less severe.

  Show answer

  alleviate poverty

• Providing free vocational training is one of the most effective ways to ___.

  💡 Complete the sentence with the target phrase.

  Show answer

  alleviate poverty