reprieve
Americanverb (used with object)
-
reprieves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
reprieved,
past participle, past
-
reprieving
present participle
-
to delay the impending punishment or sentence of (a condemned person).
-
to relieve temporarily from any evil.
noun
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reprieves
plural
-
a respite from impending punishment, as from execution of a sentence of death.
-
a warrant authorizing this.
-
any respite or temporary relief.
- Synonyms:
- deferment, stay, postponement, delay
verb
-
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 harm
the government has reprieved the company with a huge loan
noun
-
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
Synonym Usage
See pardon.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
reprievesimple
-
reprievessimple
-
have reprievedperfect
-
has reprievedperfect
-
am reprievingprogressive
-
are reprievingprogressive
-
is reprievingprogressive
-
have been reprievingperfect progressive
-
has been reprievingperfect progressive
Past
-
reprievedsimple
-
had reprievedperfect
-
was reprievingprogressive
-
were reprievingprogressive
-
had been reprievingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reprieve
First recorded in 1300–50; perhaps conflation of Middle English repreven “to contradict,” variant of reproven “to rebuke,” apparently taken in literal sense “to prove again, test again,” and Middle English repried (past participle of reprien “to bring back”), from Old French reprit (past participle of reprendre “to take back”; see reprise, reprove,
Explanation
A reprieve is a break in or cancellation of a painful or otherwise lousy situation. If you're being tortured, a reprieve is a break from whatever's tormenting you. For some, a night at the opera is a night of punishing boredom during which the only reprieve is the intermission. For others, it's baseball that feels like torture. The seventh-inning stretch is the only reprieve from a night of endless waiting. Often, you'll hear reprieve used when a court or governor decides not to execute a prisoner. That prisoner is given a reprieve and will be allowed to live. He probably won't get a reprieve from prison, though, unless he's found innocent.
Vocabulary lists containing reprieve
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The Constitution of the United States
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
After a brief reprieve from selling in the $32 trillion Treasury market over the past week, the bond rout returned on Wednesday after inflation data for September rose more than expected.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
Technical factors in the market gave bonds a reprieve this week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The deportation reprieve is known as Temporary Protected Status.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
Pike's lawyers, who filed a 226-page clemency petition, hoped for a last-minute reprieve of her execution, but it was rejected, while United Nations human rights experts had also called for the execution to be stopped.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
He probably thought he could charm and lie his way into a reprieve, the way he had done a dozen other times.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
The decline is on the larger end among the reprieves for U.S. trading partners.
From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026
This could negatively impact Alcoa’s tariff reprieves on its Canadian aluminum.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 8, 2026
In return, the companies get administration-backed reprieves from potential new U.S. tariffs for three years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
The errors gave England reprieves worth 200 runs in the game.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2025
His friends still wrought reprieves for him: and, indeed, his fact, till now in the government of Lord Angclo, 130 came not to an undoubtful proof.
From Measure for Measure The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] by John Glover
The DOE review reprieved nearly 2,000 clean-technology projects, totaling close to $24 billion in funding.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
With Mbeumo reprieved by VAR on Sunday, he took his second chance with a jumping run-up just before he hit the ball, waiting for goalkeeper Dean Henderson to dive the wrong way.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2025
Salt was reprieved by being caught off a no-ball first up but there was no such luck for Will Jacks as he picked out Short at fine leg in the next over.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2024
Maxwell was dropped twice, on 24 and 33, and also started to leave the field on 27 before, much to his surprise, he was reprieved after opting to review when given out lbw.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2023
It seemed good to be reprieved, to walk in a land that had only been for a few years under the dominion of the Dark Lord and was not yet fallen wholly into decay.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
While it was Rory Burns reprieving Warner at the Gabba, this time it was Jos Buttler inexplicably shelling Marnus Labuschagne.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2021
A Vestal can't use her prerogative of reprieving criminals," said Brinnaria, "unless she encounters by accident a criminal being led to execution.
From The Unwilling Vestal by Edward Lucas White
He refused to attend a cabinet meeting because he was trying to find a reason for reprieving a soldier.
From The Battle of Principles A Study of the Heroism and Eloquence of the Anti-Slavery Conflict by Newell Dwight Hillis
Some of his letters record his sense of painful responsibility when the question arose as to reprieving a prisoner.
From The Life of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, Bart., K.C.S.I. A Judge of the High Court of Justice by Sir Leslie Stephen
"But I am given to understand that there is law for reprieving her, if it is in the king's pleasure," said Jeanie.
From The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2 by Sir Walter Scott
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