rest

1. 1.

   something left after other parts have been taken away

   “there was no remainder”

   “he threw away the rest”

   “he took what he wanted and I got the balance”

   Synonymsremainderbalanceresidualresidueresiduum

   Broaderpart

   Narrowerleftover
2. 2.

   freedom from activity (work or strain or responsibility)

   “took his repose by the swimming pool”

   Synonymseasereposerelaxation

   Broaderinactivity

   Narrowerbedrestlazinesslie-inquiescenceleisure
3. 3.

   a pause for relaxation

   “people actually accomplish more when they take time for short rests”

   Synonymsrespitereliefrest period

   Broaderpause

   Narrowerbreath
4. 4.

   a state of inaction

   “a body will continue in a state of rest until acted upon”

   Broaderinaction
5. 5.

   euphemisms for death (based on an analogy between lying in a bed and in a tomb)

   “she was laid to rest beside her husband”

   “they had to put their family pet to sleep”

   Synonymseternal restsleepeternal sleepquietus

   Broaderdeath
6. 6.

   a support on which things can be put

   “the gun was steadied on a special rest”

   Broadersupport

   Narrowerarmrestchin restheadrest
7. 7.

   a musical notation indicating a silence of a specified duration

   Broadermusical notation

   Narrowerwhole resthalf restquarter rest

Other forms of rest

plural

rests·

past tense

rested·

present participle

resting·

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 rest

What does rest mean?

rest means "not move; be in a resting position". That is the primary sense; the word has 18 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in rest?

rest has 1 syllable: rest. In IPA it is /ˈɹɛst/.

What is another word for rest?

Close synonyms include breathe, catch one's breath, take a breather, lie, stay. 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.

What is the opposite of rest?

The recorded antonyms are be active.

Is rest a common word?

rest is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with rest?

3 words rhyme with rest. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.