Example:
We created art and entertainment to distract us and to [...] life.
What's the word or phrase to use in a situation like this?
The only thing I can think of is 'to soften up.' But I'm not sure.
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this communityExample:
We created art and entertainment to distract us and to [...] life.
What's the word or phrase to use in a situation like this?
The only thing I can think of is 'to soften up.' But I'm not sure.
I think sweeten may suggest the idea of making life more acceptable and enjoyable with pleasant things like art and entertainment:
- To make more pleasant
Source: www.thefreedictionary.com
From thefreedictionary...
alleviate
to make (pain, sorrow, etc) easier to bear; lessen; relieveameliorate
to make or become better or more satisfactory; improve; meliorate.Usage: Ameliorate is often wrongly used where alleviate is meant. Ameliorate is properly used to mean "improve", not "make easier to bear", so one should talk about alleviating pain or hardship, not ameliorating it.
So OP must decide whether he thinks life is "okay, but could be better" (use ameliorate), or "almost unendurably harsh" (use alleviate).
We created art and entertainment to distract us and to enliven life.
Merriam-Webster defines enliven as:
to make (something) more interesting, lively, or enjoyable
I would use the word "ameliorate."
To make something more tolerable can also mean to alleviate something otherwise intolerable, like pain. Or to attenuate something, to soothe, to tone down, to pacifiy, to moderate. There is more, just off the top of my head.