Relief

How to spell relief

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce relief

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does relief mean?

1. nounA feeling of reassurance or comfort when pain, worry, or pressure is removed or reduced.
2. nounMoney, food, or practical help given to people in need or affected by disaster.
3. nounA person who takes over a duty or shift so that another can rest or leave.
4. nounA sculpture or design in which figures project from a flat background surface.

Relief in a sentence

• The painkiller brought instant relief from her headache.

• The charity sent relief to the flooded villages within days.

• The night nurse waited for her relief to arrive before going home.

• The ancient coin showed an emperor's profile in raised relief.

• Finishing the tax return early was a huge relief.

• Families applied for financial relief during the long strike.

Where does relief come from?

Language of origin: French

Relief came into English in the 1300s from Old French relief, a noun built on the verb relever, meaning 'to raise up' or 'to lift again'. That French verb descends from the Latin relevare, formed from re- 'again' and levare 'to lift or lighten', so the literal idea was the lightening of a load. From that core image English drew several strands: the lifting of pain or worry, the easing of a burden through aid, and the raising of a figure above a flat surface in sculpture. The same levare root that gives us 'lighten' also sits behind 'elevate' and 'levity', all sharing the sense of making something rise. The spelling keeps the classic ie order, following the familiar pattern in 'belief' and 'grief', which is the usual trap for writers tempted to reverse the vowels.

How the word is built

• re- (back, again)
• lief (from levare: to raise, lighten)