Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use reprieve in a sentence

11 example sentences · verb, noun

Reprieve means to cancel or postpone the punishment of someone, especially an execution. Example: “The prisoner was saved from execution; the governor had requested a reprieve.”

Examples of reprieve by meaning

verbTo abandon or postpone plans to close, withdraw or abolish (something).

  • At the time of writing the halts have been reprieved due to doubts as to the legality of the withdrawal of services.1960 August, L. Hyland, “The Irish Scene”, in Trains Illustrated, page 468

nounThe cancellation or postponement of a punishment.

  • The prisoner was saved from execution; the governor had requested a reprieve.

nounRelief from pain etc., especially temporary.

  • I have photographed destroyed homes, hospitals, funerals, humanitarian aid, empty markets and the daily lives of people returning to their neighborhoods during moment of reprieve.2014 August 6, James Estrin, quoting Wissam Nassar, “Photos From Both Sides of the Gaza Conflict”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y....
  • Yet it was not easy, on the balance of play, to be convinced by Pellegrini and his defeated players that the reprieve might somehow be a defining moment over the two legs.2015 February 24, Daniel Taylor, “Luis Suárez strikes twice as Barcelona teach Manchester City a lesson”, in The Guardian (London)

nounA cancellation or postponement of a proposed event undesired by many.

  • It is feared that this reprieve may not outlast the summer timetable which, on the section in question, provides only a skeleton of the former service.1960 August, L. Hyland, “The Irish Scene”, in Trains Illustrated, page 468
  • And it said there was no reprieve for 435 stations already approved for closure before the report appeared.2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 53

More sentences with reprieve

  • So I gave myself a week's reprieve and started another eatathon.1982, Barbara Zara, Erin McHugh, I left my fat behind, page 14. From the entry eatathon
  • This was to defeat Podson's urgent need of anybody's company to reprieve him from his own.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 121. From the entry frowningly
  • But in a twist worthy of the movie “Babe,” many of the pigs won a reprieve on Tuesday.2016 July 5, Chris Buckley, “Amid Floods in China, Stranded Pigs Are Thrown a Lifeline”, in New York Times, archived from the original on…. From the entry Lu'an
  • The folks were quite happy about Sunday's thrilling reprieve in Philadelphia and happily confident that "d' Bums'll moider dem Jints"1951 October 2, “VOICE OF FLATBUSH GOES UP AND DOWN; Loud Shouts of Morning Fall to …”, in New York Times. From the entry bums
  • Willy and I were granted a reprieve from her “obnoxiosity.” She was reposing in all her bizarre glory in the upstairs bedchamber.2004, Martin R. Riehle, Square Dancing in Hell, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, Inc., →ISBN, page 120. From the entry obnoxiosity

Meaning of reprieve

  1. verb To cancel or postpone the punishment of someone, especially an execution.
  2. verb To bring relief to someone.
  3. verb To take back to prison (in lieu of execution).

Full definition of reprieve

Questions about reprieve in a sentence

How do you use reprieve in a sentence?
Reprieve is used as a verb and noun. For example: “The prisoner was saved from execution; the governor had requested a reprieve.”
What is a short sentence with reprieve?
“So I gave myself a week's reprieve and started another eatathon.”
What does reprieve mean?
Reprieve means to cancel or postpone the punishment of someone, especially an execution.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: reprieve (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use reprieve in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/reprieve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.