reprieve
[ri-preev]
- to delay the impending punishment or sentence of (a condemned person).
- to relieve temporarily from any evil.
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- a respite from impending punishment, as from execution of a sentence of death.
- a warrant authorizing this.
- any respite or temporary relief.
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Origin of reprieve
Synonyms
See more synonyms for reprieve on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for reprieve
Contemporary Examples
When POTUS asked Malia if she wanted to pet the turkey before he granted its reprieve, she responded appropriately: “Nah.”
The procedure was captured on-camera and released by the human rights organization, Reprieve.
From Public Enemy to Power Broker: Hip-Hop’s the New Global Pop CultureLauren DeLisa Coleman
September 27, 2014
But six months into his probation, Bartiromo asked the judge presiding over his case for a reprieve.
There were moments of reprieve, then the boiling water again.
After a reprieve over the spring and summer, debt-ceiling brinksmanship is about to resume.
Historical Examples
He had got a reprieve, or a respite, and he felt like a boy--another kind of boy from what he had ever been.
Questionable ShapesWilliam Dean Howells
It might have been the gasp of the condemned man at the sound of the word “reprieve.”
The Twins of Suffering CreekRidgwell Cullum
But even if she did go it was a reprieve; it gave him one last opportunity.
Once to Every ManLarry Evans
The crying need of an imperiled republic could not reprieve him.
"Well, it is at least a reprieve," said she, with a dreary sigh; and they retired.
Luttrell Of ArranCharles James Lever
reprieve
- to postpone or remit the punishment of (a person, esp one condemned to death)
- to give temporary relief to (a person or thing), esp from otherwise irrevocable harmthe government has reprieved the company with a huge loan
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- a postponement or remission of punishment, esp of a person condemned to death
- a warrant granting a postponement
- a temporary relief from pain or harm; respite
- the act of reprieving or the state of being reprieved
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Word Origin
C16: from Old French repris (something) taken back, from reprendre to take back, from Latin reprehendere; perhaps also influenced by obsolete English repreve to reprove
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for reprieve
v.
1570s, reprive, "take back to prison," alteration (perhaps by influence of reprove) of Middle English repryen "to remand, detain" (late 15c.), probably from Middle French repris, past participle of reprendre "take back" (see reprise). Meaning "to suspend an impending execution" is recorded from 1590s; this sense evolved because being sent back to prison was the alternative to being executed. Spelling with -ie- is from 1640s, perhaps by analogy of achieve, etc. Related: Reprieved; reprieving.
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n.
1590s, from reprieve (v.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper