Word.ws English Dictionary

respite

/ˈɹɛsˌpaɪt/US/ˈɹɛs.pɪt/

respite noun: a brief interval of rest or relief.

Noun

respite (countable and uncountable, plural respites)

  1. A brief interval of rest or relief.
    • I crave but four day's respite.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • Some pause and respite only I require.1668, John Denham, “The Passion of Dido for Æneas”, in Poems and Translations with the Sophy, page 136
  2. A reprieve, especially from a sentence of death.
    • Thenne spake sir gawayn and sayd my lord Arthur I wold counceylle yow not to be ouer hasty but that ye wold putte it in respyte this Iugement of my lady the quene for many causes.
      "Then spake Sir Gawaine, and said: My lord Arthur, I would counsel you not to be over-hasty, but that ye would put it...1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XX, Chapter vii, leaf 404v
    • The PACC Act [Post-Appeal Applications in Capital Cases Act] also amends the CPC [Criminal Procedure Code] to provide that a capital sentence may be carried out unless:[…]The President has ordered a respite.2024 June 24, “Operationalisation of the Post-Appeal Applications in Capital Cases Act 2022”, in Ministry of Law (Singapore)
  3. The delay of appearance at court granted to a jury beyond the proper term.
  4. A short period of spoken dialogue in an otherwise sung-through musical.

Verb

respite (third-person singular simple present respites, present participle respiting, simple past and past participle respited)

  1. (transitive) To delay or postpone (an event).
  2. (transitive) To allow (a person) extra time to fulfil some obligation.

respite meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

respite in Hindi

a respite, spell; breather
उसाँस usā̃s

respite in Tamil

ஓய்வு

respite in Urdu

respite, delay; extension; grace period
مہلت muhlat

respite in Bengali

বিশ্রাম, বিরতি, অবকাশ
More languagesFewer languages
respite in Malayalam
സ്വൈരം
respite in Kannada
ಬಿಡುವು, ತಡ, ಮುಂದುವರಿಕೆ, ವ್ಯವಧಾನ
respite in Punjabi
ساہ sāh, ਸਾਹ sāh, ਦਮ dam
respite in Arabic
مُتَنَفَّس mutanaffas

Examples of respite in a sentence

  • It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
  • Cameron had a respite Thursday from the negative chatter swirling around him when he appeared outside 10 Downing Street to denounce the murder a day before of a British soldier on a London street.2013 May 23, Sarah Lyall, “British Leader's Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 May 2013:
  • But, since only one ship in the Center Force has gunnery radar, the American ships gain some respite.2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 17:27 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov...

All 18 example sentences with respite

Synonyms of respite

17 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of respite

Forms of respite

Noun
pluralrespites
Verb
third-person singular presentrespites
present participlerespiting
past participlerespited
pastrespited

Plural of respite: respites

Origin of respite

From Anglo-Norman and Old French respit (“rest”), from Latin respectus. Doublet of respect.

Words formed from respite

Questions about respite

What does respite mean?
Respite means a brief interval of rest or relief.
What is respite in Hindi?
Respite in Hindi is उसाँस (usā̃s). See Respite meaning in Hindi.
How do you use respite in a sentence?
It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room.
What part of speech is respite?
Respite can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce respite?
Respite is pronounced /ˈɹɛsˌpaɪt/ (UK).
What is the plural of respite?
The plural of respite is respites.

Words near respite in the dictionary

  1. respirosonography
  2. respiroviral
  3. respirovirus
  4. respiroviruses
  5. respit
  6. respite
  7. respite care
  8. respited
  9. respiteless
  10. respites
  11. respiting

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: respite (page history and authors); उसाँस (Hindi) (page history and authors); respite (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); مہلت (Urdu) (page history and authors); respite (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); respite (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); respite (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ساہ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-respite.wav.

Cite this entry: “respite.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/respite. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.