Oxford directly records relieved + to-infinitive and relieved about + noun/event, supporting this narrow comparison.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “relieved to do/see/hear/know…” when relief is followed by an infinitive event. Use “relieved about something” when the complement names the matter or situation that causes relief.
Key details
Confusion Familyverb-complement
Rule Familyverb-complementation
Termsrelieved to do, relieved about something
Further guidance
Core difference
Oxford documents relieved + to-infinitive and relieved about + noun/event as standard patterns.
Style Boundary
Use about for the matter or event producing relief; use to + base verb for the infinitive event or discovery pattern.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
Relieved↗ (opens in a new tab)Oxford University Press · Direct learner-dictionary evidence for relieved + to-infinitive and relieved about + noun/event.
Cambridge directly records amazed + to-infinitive and amazed at + complement, making it an evidence-safe replacement for the unsupported Satisfied proposal.
Oxford directly records both ashamed + to-infinitive and ashamed of + noun/pronoun. The guide compares those attested structures without inventing an unsupported parallel complement.
Oxford directly documents averse to (doing) something. This is a prepositional to + noun/-ing construction, so a bare infinitive should not be assumed to be an interchangeable complement.
Oxford documents the idiomatic adjective pattern bent on (doing) something for determination. The evidence does not license a parallel bent + to-infinitive complement for that same meaning.
