alleviation vs step-down

alleviation and step-down both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
alleviation	Yes	No	No	No
step-down	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, step-down is a hypernym of alleviation; that is, step-down is a word with a broader meaning than alleviation:

alleviation: the act of reducing something unpleasant (as pain or annoyance)
step-down: the act of decreasing or reducing something

Other hypernyms of alleviation include decrease, diminution, reduction.

alleviation (noun)	step-down (noun)
the act of reducing something unpleasant (as pain or annoyance)	the act of decreasing or reducing something
the feeling that comes when something burdensome is removed or reduced