n.
- the alleviation or removal of pain, anxiety, or distress.
▸a feeling or cause of relief.
▸
(usu. light relief)
a temporary break in a generally tense or tedious situation.
- financial or practical assistance given to those in special need or difficulty.
- a person or group of people replacing others who have been on duty.
▸Brit. an extra vehicle providing supplementary public transport at peak times or in emergencies.
- the raising of a siege on a town.
- distinctness due to being accentuated.
- a method of moulding, carving, or stamping in which the design stands out from the surface, to a greater (high relief) or lesser (low relief) extent.
▸a representation of relief given by an arrangement of line, colour, or shading.
Etymology
ME: from OFr., from relever ‘raise up, relieve’, from L. relevare ‘raise again, alleviate’; sense 6 via Fr. from Ital. rilievo, from rilevare ‘raise’.
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