reprieve

verb

/rɪˈpriːv/

[usually passive] not usually used in the progressive tenses

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they reprieve	/rɪˈpriːv/ /rɪˈpriːv/
he / she / it reprieves	/rɪˈpriːvz/ /rɪˈpriːvz/
past simple reprieved	/rɪˈpriːvd/ /rɪˈpriːvd/
past participle reprieved	/rɪˈpriːvd/ /rɪˈpriːvd/
-ing form reprieving	/rɪˈpriːvɪŋ/ /rɪˈpriːvɪŋ/

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reprieve somebody to officially cancel or delay a punishment for a prisoner who is condemned to death
- a reprieved murderer
Topics Crime and punishmentc2
reprieve something to officially cancel or delay plans to close something or end something
- 70 jobs have been reprieved until next April.

Word Originlate 15th cent. (as the past participle repryed): from Anglo-Norman French repris, past participle of reprendre, from Latin re- ‘back’ + prehendere ‘seize’. The insertion of -v- (16th cent.) remains unexplained. Sense development has undergone a reversal, from the early meaning ‘send back to prison’, via ‘postpone a legal process’, to the current sense ‘rescue from impending punishment’.

reprieve

noun

/rɪˈpriːv/

[usually singular]

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an official order stopping a punishment, especially for a prisoner who is condemned to death
- He was saved from the gallows by a last-minute reprieve.
synonym a stay of executionTopics Crime and punishmentc2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- brief
- temporary
- welcome
- …
verb + reprieve
- earn
- gain
- get
- …
preposition
- reprieve from
See full entry
a delay before something bad happens
- Campaigners have won a reprieve for the hospital threatened with closure.
Extra Examples
- The school was granted a six-month reprieve.
- This house offers no reprieve from the heat.
- The railway line, due for closure, has been granted a six-month reprieve.
- The family has won a temporary reprieve from eviction.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- brief
- temporary
- welcome
- …
verb + reprieve
- earn
- gain
- get
- …
preposition
- reprieve from
See full entry