Reprieve

Quick meaning: Reprieve is a verb meaning (transitive) To cancel or postpone the punishment of someone, especially an execution.

Meaning

(transitive) To cancel or postpone the punishment of someone, especially an execution.

More Meanings

1. (transitive) To bring relief to someone.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To take back to prison (in lieu of execution).
3. (transitive) To abandon or postpone plans to close, withdraw or abolish (something).
4. The cancellation or postponement of a punishment.
5. A document authorizing such an action.
6. Relief from pain etc., especially temporary.
7. A cancellation or postponement of a proposed event undesired by many.

Example Sentences

The prisoner was saved from execution; the governor had requested a reprieve.

Company […] may reprieve a man from his melancholy, yet it cannot secure him from his conscience.

And it said there was no reprieve for 435 stations already approved for closure before the report appeared.

Yet it was not easy, on the balance of play, to be convinced by Pellegrini and his defeated players that the reprieve might somehow be a defining moment over the two legs.

Word Forms

• reprieves
• reprieving
• reprieved
• repryve
• reprive

Synonyms for reprieve

Depending on context, synonyms include respite, abatement, hiatus, suspension.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include suspension, hiatus, respite, abatement, adjournment, waiver.

Related Dictionary Tools