EASE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ease mean? 

• EASE (noun)
  The noun EASE has 5 senses:

1. freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort

2. a freedom from financial difficulty that promotes a comfortable state

3. the condition of being comfortable or relieved (especially after being relieved of distress)

4. freedom from constraint or embarrassment

5. freedom from activity (work or strain or responsibility)

  Familiarity information: EASE used as a noun is common.

• EASE (verb)
  The verb EASE has 4 senses:

1. move gently or carefully

2. lessen pain or discomfort; alleviate

3. make easier

4. lessen the intensity of or calm

  Familiarity information: EASE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EASE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

ease; easiness; simpleness; simplicity

Context example:

the very easiness of the deed held her back

Hypernyms ("ease" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Attribute:

easy (posing no difficulty; requiring little effort)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ease"):

effortlessness (the quality of requiring little effort)

Antonym:

difficulty (the quality of being difficult)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A freedom from financial difficulty that promotes a comfortable state

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

comfort; ease

Context example:

he had all the material comforts of this world

Hypernyms ("ease" is a kind of...):

affluence; richness (abundant wealth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ease"):

lap of luxury (in conditions of wealth and comfort)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The condition of being comfortable or relieved (especially after being relieved of distress)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

ease; relief

Context example:

getting it off his conscience gave him some ease

Hypernyms ("ease" is a kind of...):

comfort; comfortableness (a state of being relaxed and feeling no pain)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ease"):

reprieve; respite (a (temporary) relief from harm or discomfort)

Derivation:

ease (lessen the intensity of or calm)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Freedom from constraint or embarrassment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

ease; informality

Context example:

I am never at ease with strangers

Hypernyms ("ease" is a kind of...):

naturalness (the quality of being natural or based on natural principles)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Freedom from activity (work or strain or responsibility)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

ease; relaxation; repose; rest

Context example:

took his repose by the swimming pool

Hypernyms ("ease" is a kind of...):

inactivity (being inactive; being less active)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ease"):

bed rest; bedrest (confinement to bed continuously (as in the case of some sick or injured persons))

laziness (relaxed and easy activity)

lie-in (a long stay in bed in the morning)

dormancy; quiescence; quiescency; sleeping (quiet and inactive restfulness)

leisure (freedom to choose a pastime or enjoyable activity)

• EASE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they ease    ... he / she / it eases   
Past simple: eased   
Past participle: eased   
-ing form: easing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move gently or carefully

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

He eased himself into the chair

Hypernyms (to "ease" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Also:

ease up (move in order to make room for someone for something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lessen pain or discomfort; alleviate

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

comfort; ease

Context example:

ease the pain in your legs

Hypernyms (to "ease" is one way to...):

alleviate; assuage; palliate; relieve (provide physical relief, as from pain)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

easement; easing (the act of reducing something unpleasant (as pain or annoyance))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make easier

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

alleviate; ease; facilitate

Context example:

you could facilitate the process by sharing your knowledge

Hypernyms (to "ease" is one way to...):

aid; assist; help (give help or assistance; be of service)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

easing (a change for the better)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Lessen the intensity of or calm

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

allay; ease; relieve; still

Context example:

still the fears

Hypernyms (to "ease" is one way to...):

comfort; console; solace; soothe (give moral or emotional strength to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "ease"):

abreact (discharge bad feelings or tension through verbalization)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The good news will ease her

Derivation:

ease (the condition of being comfortable or relieved (especially after being relieved of distress))

easement (the act of reducing something unpleasant (as pain or annoyance))

 Context examples 

The leiter-wagons contained great, square boxes, with handles of thick rope; these were evidently empty by the ease with which the Slovaks handled them, and by their resonance as they were roughly moved.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He was too busy adjusting himself to the new life to feel at ease, and not only did he not pick fights, but he avoided them whenever possible.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I ought to have left Janet at home, instead, and then my mind might perhaps have been at ease.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I felt an abrupt easing of the schooner, a loss for the moment of all strain and pressure, coupled with a swift acceleration of speed.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

On the other hand, he could get out on to the lawn with ease.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He found time to admire the ease with which she sat down, then lurched toward a chair facing her, overwhelmed with consciousness of the awkward figure he was cutting.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been woven round him.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She arose with catlike ease and suddenness to her full height, her eyes flashing, her nostrils quivering like a deer's.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“He is just what a young man ought to be,” said she, “sensible, good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners!—so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Also, he stood less in fear of them than formerly, stalking among them with a certain careless ease that was as new to him as it was enjoyable.

(White Fang, by Jack London)