reprieve

1. 1.

   postpone the punishment of a convicted criminal, such as an execution

   Synonymsrespite

   Broaderpostpone
2. 2.

   relieve temporarily

   Broaderrescue

Other forms of reprieve

plural

reprieves·

past tense

reprieved·

present participle

reprieving·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about reprieve

What does reprieve mean?

reprieve means "a (temporary) relief from harm or discomfort". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in reprieve?

reprieve has 2 syllables: re-prieve. The stress falls on "prieve". In IPA it is /ɹiˈpɹiv/.

What is another word for reprieve?

Close synonyms include respite, suspension, respite, hiatus, abatement. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is reprieve a common word?

reprieve is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.