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Reprieve
Definitions
- 1 The cancellation or postponement of a punishment.
"The prisoner was saved from execution; the governor had requested a reprieve."
- 2 the act of reprieving; postponing or remitting punishment wordnet
- 3 A document authorizing such an action.
- 4 a warrant granting postponement (usually to postpone the execution of the death sentence) wordnet
- 5 Relief from pain etc., especially temporary.
"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."
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- 6 an interruption in the intensity or amount of something wordnet
- 7 A cancellation or postponement of a proposed event undesired by many.
"At the time of writing the halts have been reprieved due to doubts as to the legality of the withdrawal of services. It is feared that this reprieve may not outlast the summer timetable which, on the section in question, provides only a skeleton of the former service."
- 8 a (temporary) relief from harm or discomfort wordnet
- 1 To cancel or postpone the punishment of someone, especially an execution. transitive
- 2 relieve temporarily wordnet
- 3 To bring relief to someone. transitive
"Company […] may reprieve a man from his melancholy, yet it cannot secure him from his conscience."
- 4 postpone the punishment of a convicted criminal, such as an execution wordnet
- 5 To take back to prison (in lieu of execution). obsolete, transitive
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- 6 To abandon or postpone plans to close, withdraw or abolish (something). transitive
"At the time of writing the halts have been reprieved due to doubts as to the legality of the withdrawal of services. It is feared that this reprieve may not outlast the summer timetable which, on the section in question, provides only a skeleton of the former service."
Etymology
First use appears c. 1513 in the writings of Robert Fabyan. In the sense of “to take back to prison”, from Middle English repryen (“to remand, detain”) (1494), possibly from Middle French repris, in the form of reprendre (“take back”); a cognate to reprise. The sense has become generalized, but does retain connotations of punishment and execution. The noun's first use appears c. 1592.
First use appears c. 1513 in the writings of Robert Fabyan. In the sense of “to take back to prison”, from Middle English repryen (“to remand, detain”) (1494), possibly from Middle French repris, in the form of reprendre (“take back”); a cognate to reprise. The sense has become generalized, but does retain connotations of punishment and execution. The noun's first use appears c. 1592.
See also for "reprieve"
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