relent

English

Etymology

From Middle English relenten, from Anglo-Norman relentir, from Latin re- + lentare (“to bend”), from lentus (“soft, pliant, slow”). Earliest recording dates to 1526.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈlɛnt/
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

• Audio (UK):

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Noun

relent (plural relents)

1. A stay; a stop; a delay.
   • 2015, Mel Parsons, “First Sign of Trouble”:

     There was no relent, my dear, as we pulled each other in.

   • 2016, Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad, Fleet (2017), page 193:

     The pistons of this engine moved without relent.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     She forward went […]
     Ne rested till she came without relent
     Unto the land of Amazons.

2. (obsolete) A relenting.

Derived terms

• relenter
• relentful
• relentingly
• relentless
• relentment
• unrelented
• unrelenting

Related terms

• lento
• lentulid

Translations

stop, delay

• Dutch: verblijf (nl) n, oponthoud (nl) n
• Finnish: viivästys (fi), pysähdys (fi)
• French: délai (fr) m, fléchissement (fr) m, se retirer (fr)

Verb

relent (third-person singular simple present relents, present participle relenting, simple past and past participle relented)

1. (intransitive) To give in or be swayed; to become less hard, harsh, or cruel; to show clemency.

   He had planned to ground his son for a month, but relented and decided to give him a stern lecture instead.

   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     Can you, my Lord of Winchester, behold
     My sighs and tears and will not once relent?

   • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC:

     Only the valley where Sish rested when he and Time were young did Sish not provoke his hours to assail. There he restrained his old hound Time […] For the minds of the gods relent towards their earliest memories, who relent not otherwise at all.

   • 1989, Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day:

     I did, I suppose, hope that she might finally relent a little and make some conciliatory response or other.

2. (intransitive) To slacken; to abate.

   We waited for the storm to relent before we ventured outside.

   He will not relent in his effort to reclaim his victory.

   • 1988 March 21, Heart of Glory (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (Science Fiction), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:

     WORF: When my foster brother and I were of age, we entered the Starfleet Academy. He hated it and returned to Gault. I stayed.
     KONMEL: You have not spent much time among your own kind.
     WORF: Hardly none.
     KORRIS: So, when the night was still and quiet, and the sound of the blood rushing through your veins filled your ears, the only way to silence it was to slip out into the night and, like the hunter that spawned you, join in the struggle of life and death. You were unable
     KONMEL: And those around you did not understand. You frightened them.
     KORRIS: They shunned you. Cursed you. Called you vile names, and you knew not why. Even now do you know why you are driven? Why you cannot relent or repent or confess or abstain? How could you know? There have been no other Klingons to lead you to that knowledge.
     WORF: Yes. Yes, those feelings are part of me. But I control them. They do not rule me.
     KORRIS: Yes. To fit in, the humans demand that you change the one thing that you cannot change. Yet, because you cannot, you do. That too is the mark of the warrior. You said that I mock you. I do not. I salute you.

3. (obsolete, transitive) To lessen, make less severe or intense.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     But nothing might relent her hastie flight; / So deepe the deadly feare of that foule swaine / Was earst impressed in her gentle spright […]

4. (dated, intransitive, of substance) To become less rigid or hard; to soften; to yield, for example by dissolving or melting
   • 1669, Robert Boyle, The History of Fluidity and Firmness:

     [Salt of tartar] placed in a cellar will […] begin to relent.

   • 1717, Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:

     When opening buds salute the welcome day, / And earth, relenting, feels the genial ray.

Translations

become less severe, give in

• Bulgarian: омилостивявам се (omilostivjavam se)
• Czech: smilovat se, obměkčit se, slitovat se, ustoupit pf, povolit (cs) pf, dát se obměkčit, povolovat impf
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} milder worden , milderen (nl), verzachten (nl)
• Finnish: lauhtua (fi), leppyä (fi)
• French: céder (fr), fléchir (fr)
• German: nachgeben (de)
• Italian: cedere (it)
• Māori: whakangāwari, māriri
• Persian: نرم شدن (narm šodan)
• Romanian: a se înmuia (ro)
• Russian: смягча́ться (ru) (smjaxčátʹsja)
• Spanish: ceder (es), relentecer (es), relentecerse (es)
• Thai: อ่อนข้อ (th) (ɔ̀ɔn-kɔ̂ɔ)

slacken, abate

• Bulgarian: стихвам (bg) (stihvam)
• Czech: ochabnout, polevit (cs) pf, povolovat impf, zmírnit se pf
• Dutch: verslappen (nl)
• Finnish: laantua (fi)
• German: nachlassen (de)
• Italian: placare (it)
• Māori: whakangoru, māwhe, tāngangao
• Spanish: ceder (es), cejar (es), amainar (es), relentecer (es), relentecerse (es)

become less rigid, yield

• Bulgarian: омеквам (bg) (omekvam)
• Czech: změknout, povolit (cs)
• Dutch: verzachten (nl), ^{(please verify)} zachter worden , oplossen (nl), smelten (nl), meegeven (nl), ontspannen (nl)
• Finnish: pehmetä (fi), taipua (fi)
• German: nachgeben (de)
• Māori: whakangāwari, ngawhere, hauraro

Adjective

relent (comparative more relent, superlative most relent)

1. (obsolete) Softhearted; yielding.

French

Etymology

From re- +‎ lent (“slow”), in the sense “lingering”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.lɑ̃/

• Audio (France (Paris)):

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• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Massy)):

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Noun

relent m (plural relents)

1. lingering smell (usually bad); stench
2. (figuratively) overtone

Further reading

• “relent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Middle English

Verb

relent

1. alternative form of relenten