reprieve
pronunciation
How to pronounce reprieve in British English:
UK [rɪˈpri:v]
How to pronounce reprieve in American English:
US [rɪˈpriv]
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- Noun:
- a (temporary) relief from harm or discomfort
- an interruption in the intensity or amount of something
- a warrant granting postponement (usually to postpone the execution of the death sentence)
- the act of reprieving; postponing or remitting punishment
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- Verb:
- postpone the punishment of a convicted criminal, such as an execution
- relieve temporarily
Word Origin
- reprieve
- reprieve: [16] Reprieve originally meant ‘send back to prison’ (‘Of this treason he was found guilty, and reprieved in the Tower a long time’, Edmund Campion, History of Ireland 1571), but since this was often the alternative to execution, the word soon came to mean ‘suspend a death sentence’. The form in which it originally occurs, at the end of the 15th century, is repry, and it is not clear where the v came from. Repry was borrowed from repris, the past participle of Old French reprendre ‘take back’.This in turn went back to Latin reprehendere (source of English reprehensible [14]), a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and prehendere ‘seize, take’ (source of English prison, prize, surprise, etc). The medieval Latin derivative reprehensālia produced English reprisal [15], and the feminine past participle of Old French reprendre was the source of English reprise [14].=> apprehend, prison, prize, reprisal, reprise, surprise
- 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.
- reprieve (n.)
- 1590s, from reprieve (v.).
Example
- 1. But democrats only plan a reprieve of two weeks .
- 2. And their fate may revive heretical thoughts of a reprieve for atomic power .
- 3. But if more bad figures emerge a reprieve on new taxes may prove to be wise .
- 4. The government gave rim a 60-day reprieve but warned that it would have to set up a server within india during this period .
- 5. They said they had heard from their immigration lawyer that the agency 's announcement might mean at least a temporary reprieve from deportation for mr. velandia .