let up

verb

1. to diminish, slacken, or stop

2. informal,  (foll by on) to be less harsh (towards someone)

noun

1. informal,  a lessening or abatement

Idioms and Phrases

See let down , def. 2.

Cease, stop entirely, as in The rain has let up so we can go out . [Late 1700s]

let up on . Be or become more lenient with, take the pressure off, as in Why don't you let up on the child? [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

If I let up on my effort, if I turned my focus away, it might all crumble.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The moment was one of great euphoria, but it should be tinged with the knowledge that pressure on Hamas can’t let up.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

For the nation’s 200-plus food banks, it’s been described as a perfect storm: federal cuts colliding with a government shutdown, inflation and a cost-of-living crisis that hasn’t let up.

Read more on Salon

Israel, meanwhile, is loath to let up too soon on an enemy that has been decimated and fragmented into small groups by its advance.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The barrage of unilateral presidential actions has not yet let up.

Read more on Salon