The new law was meant to mitigate the people's suffering.

Analyze the question: You need the word closest in meaning to mitigate as used in "The new law was meant to mitigate the people's suffering."

Explain the concept: To mitigate means to make something less severe, serious, or painful. It does not mean to remove it completely, only to reduce it. Related words are lessen, ease, relieve, and alleviate.

Step-by-step solution:

• A. restrain means to hold back or keep under control, as in restraining a person or an impulse. It does not fit suffering.
• B. moderate means to make less extreme. It is close, but we normally moderate things like views, speed, or behaviour, not suffering. It is a weaker fit here.
• C. stop means to end completely. Mitigate only means to reduce, so this is too strong.
• D. alleviate means to make suffering, pain, or hardship less severe. This matches mitigate in both meaning and usage. We commonly say "alleviate suffering" or "alleviate poverty."

Substituting it in: "The new law was meant to alleviate the people's suffering." The sentence keeps the same meaning and reads naturally.

Answer: The correct option is D. alleviate.

Exam tip: Pair the word with its usual partner. Mitigate/alleviate go with suffering, pain, or hardship. When two options seem close, like moderate and alleviate, choose the one that collocates naturally with the noun in the sentence. Also, remember that mitigate and militate are different words, and WASSCE and JAMB often use that confusion in their questions.