recess

[ ri-ses, ree-ses ]
See synonyms for: recessrecessedrecesses on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. temporary withdrawal or cessation from the usual work or activity.

  2. a period of such withdrawal.

  1. a receding part or space, as a bay or alcove in a room.

  2. an indentation in a line or extent of coast, hills, forest, etc.

  3. recesses, a secluded or inner area or part: in the recesses of the palace.

verb (used with object)
  1. to place or set in a recess.

  2. to set or form as or like a recess; make a recess or recesses in: to recess a wall.

  1. to suspend or defer for a recess: to recess the Senate.

verb (used without object)
  1. to take a recess.

Origin of recess

1
1510–20; <Latin recessus a withdrawal, receding part, equivalent to recēd(ere) to recede1 + -tus suffix of v. action, with dt>ss

Other words for recess

Other words from recess

  • non·re·cess, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use recess in a sentence

  • It was then just after seven o'clock, and the October evening was drawing in with chill airs from the recesses of the forest.

    Three More John Silence Stories | Algernon Blackwood
  • Their deeper recesses were given up to owls and bats, and nearer the entrance the prowling fox or jackal found a covert.

    The Catacombs of Rome | William Henry Withrow
  • In their dark recesses were concocted those treasons, stratagems, and spoils that desolated the land.

    The Catacombs of Rome | William Henry Withrow
  • In one of these dark recesses the wall was pierced, well up toward the Carey street end.

  • Shadow after shadow crept down the walls of the chasm, blurred its projections, darkened its faces, and crowded its recesses.

    Overland | John William De Forest

British Dictionary definitions for recess

recess

noun(rɪˈsɛs, ˈriːsɛs)
  1. a space, such as a niche or alcove, set back or indented

  2. (often plural) a secluded or secret place: recesses of the mind

  1. a cessation of business, such as the closure of Parliament during a vacation

  2. anatomy a small cavity or depression in a bodily organ, part, or structure

  3. US and Canadian a break between classes at a school

verb(rɪˈsɛs)
  1. (tr) to place or set (something) in a recess

  2. (tr) to build a recess or recesses in (a wall, building, etc)

Origin of recess

1
C16: from Latin recessus a retreat, from recēdere to recede

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012