Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use respite in a sentence

18 example sentences · noun, verb

Respite means a brief interval of rest or relief. Example: “It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room.”

Examples of respite by meaning

nounA brief interval of rest or relief.

  • 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...

More sentences with respite

  • Like much of northeastern China, even this region has enjoyed an unusual respite from the smog.2018 February 10, Steven Lee Myers, “In China’s Coal Country, a Ban Brings Blue Skies and Cold Homes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN…. From the entry Linfen
  • The poetic voice describes how, sleepless with lovesickness, he goes to the chapel, seeking respite.2008, Emily Francomano, Wisdom and Her Lovers in Medieval and Early Modern Hispanic Literature, page 71. From the entry dorveille
  • And I decide to write to you as soon as I get a breathful respite.1984, Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh, Nemicandra Jaina, Pāyā patra tumhārā. From the entry breathful
  • Adults misunderstand this behavior as being contrary or difficult, when it is simply the Indigo child attempting to find emotional respite.1989, Barbara Bowers, What Color is Your Aura?, page 203. From the entry Indigo child
  • It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, jump upon a tram, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages…. From the entry some
  • With a good blinding snowfall, or a pelting downpour of cats and dogs, I might have hoped for a respite.1901, Ellen Wood (Mrs. Henry Wood), Johnny Ludlow: sixth series, page 361. From the entry cats and dogs
  • Life is an endless treadmill of work, commuting and recovering at home, often with the Internet for company and little other respite.2016, Thomas Burgess, From Here to Prosperity, Shepheard Walwyn, →ISBN. From the entry endie
  • At the least, what I offer here gives people some respite, so they can go on with the daily grind of their lives.2003, Barbara Haynie, The Terrain of Paradise, page 183. From the entry stuff dreams are made of
  • It got some respite in making tables and cabinets but, first thing he knew, they had all kinds of machinery inside them.1952, Marie Beynon Lyons Ray, The Best Years of Your Life, page 211. From the entry unrestable
  • This summer, Yining, a city in the Xinjiang region of far-western China, celebrated a boom of Chinese tourists seeking a sunny respite from Covid worries in their hometowns.2022 September 11, Chris Buckley, “Just Bread and Noodles: China’s Covid Lockdown Distress Hits Xinjiang”, in The New York Times, →ISSN…. From the entry weekslong
  • However, last week the news of the Spederline Split provided a welcome respite from the endless gloating from the "Left" and the whining from the "Right."2006 November 17, Mariel Blake, “What a difference a day makes: Britney Spears, Democrat victory”, in Virgin Islands Daily News. From the entry Spederline
  • But it was an empire in the continual throes of a decline which, despite periods of respite and glimpses of momentary recovery, was to prove irreversible.1979, Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries: the Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, page 616. From the entry Ottoman Empire
  • Early in April there was a respite from the crisis; it seemed that the French troops might be able to hold on at Dien Bien Phu.1978, Richard Nixon, RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 152. From the entry Dien Bien Phu
  • It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The…. From the entry would
  • I'm convinced we behave like this because most of us overwait for times of respite, and then we try to cram a month's peace into two weeks of hectic vacationing.2000, Jeff Walling, Daring to Dance With God. From the entry overwait

Meaning of respite

  1. noun A brief interval of rest or relief.
  2. noun A reprieve, especially from a sentence of death.
  3. noun The delay of appearance at court granted to a jury beyond the proper term.

Full definition of respite

Questions about respite in a sentence

How do you use respite in a sentence?
Respite is used as a noun and verb. For example: “It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room.”
What is a short sentence with respite?
“And I decide to write to you as soon as I get a breathful respite.”
What does respite mean?
Respite means a brief interval of rest or relief.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: respite (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 respite in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/respite. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.