Relief

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: re=lief

CIDE DICTIONARY

Relief, n. [OE. relef, F. relief, properly, a lifting up, a standing out. See Relieve, and cf. Basrelief, Rilievi.].

•  The act of relieving, or the state of being relieved; the removal, or partial removal, of any evil, or of anything oppressive or burdensome, by which some ease is obtained; succor; alleviation; comfort; ease; redress.  [1913 Webster]

  "He sees the dire contagion spread so fast,
  That, where it seizes, all relief is vain."  [1913 Webster]
•  Release from a post, or from the performance of duty, by the intervention of others, by discharge, or by relay; as, a relief of a sentry.  [1913 Webster]

  "For this relief much thanks; 'tis bitter cold."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which removes or lessens evil, pain, discomfort, uneasiness, etc.; that which gives succor, aid, or comfort; also, the person who relieves from performance of duty by taking the place of another; a relay.  [1913 Webster]
•  A fine or composition which the heir of a deceased tenant paid to the lord for the privilege of taking up the estate, which, on strict feudal principles, had lapsed or fallen to the lord on the death of the tenant.  [1913 Webster]
•  The projection of a figure above the ground or plane on which it is formed.  [1913 Webster]

  " Relief is of three kinds, namely, high relief (altorilievo), low relief, (basso-rilievo), and demirelief (mezzo-rilievo). See these terms in the Vocabulary."  [1913 Webster]
•  The appearance of projection given by shading, shadow, etc., to any figure.  [1913 Webster]
•  The height to which works are raised above the bottom of the ditch.  Wilhelm.  [1913 Webster]
•  The elevations and surface undulations of a country.  Guyot.  [1913 Webster]

Relief valve, a valve arranged for relieving pressure of steam, gas, or liquid; an escape valve.

Syn. -- Alleviation; mitigation; aid; help; succor; assistance; remedy; redress; indemnification.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Relief, n.
1 a the alleviation of or deliverance from pain, distress, anxiety, etc. b the feeling accompanying such deliverance.
2 a feature etc. that diversifies monotony or relaxes tension.
3 assistance (esp. financial) given to those in special need or difficulty (rent relief).
4 a the replacing of a person or persons on duty by another or others. b a person or persons replacing others in this way.
5 (usu. attrib.) a thing supplementing another in some service, esp. an extra vehicle providing public transport at peak times.
6 a a method of moulding or carving or stamping in which the design stands out from the surface, with projections proportioned and more (high relief) or less (low relief) closely approximating to those of the objects depicted (cf. ROUND n. 9). b a piece of sculpture etc. in relief. c a representation of relief given by an arrangement of line or colour or shading.
7 vividness, distinctness (brings the facts out in sharp relief).
8 (foll. by of) the reinforcement (esp. the raising of a siege) of a place.
9 esp. Law the redress of a hardship or grievance.

Idiom

relief map
1 a map indicating hills and valleys by shading etc. rather than by contour lines alone.
2 a map-model showing elevations and depressions, usu. on an exaggerated relative scale. relief printing = LETTERPRESS 2. relief road a road taking traffic around a congested (esp. urban) area.

Etymology

ME f AF relef, OF relief (in sense 6 F relief f. It. rilievo) f. relever: see RELIEVE

THESAURUS

Relief

ADC, CYSP sculpture, Medicaid, Medicare, abatement, agent, aid, aid and comfort, alimony, allayment, alleviation, allotment, allowance, alterative, alternate, alternative, anaglyph, anaglyptics, anaglyptography, analeptic, analogy, annuity, appeasement, architectural sculpture, assist, assistance, assuagement, assurance, auxiliaries, backup, balm, balsam, bas-relief, bellying, benefit, benevolence, boldness, bone-carving, boss, bounty, bout, break, bulging, cameo, cameo glass, casting, cavo-rilievo, ceroplastics, chance, change, changeling, chasing, clay sculpture, clemency, coffee break, comfort, commiseration, comparison, compassion, condolence, configuration, consolation, contour, contrast, copy, corrective, counterfeit, cradle-to-grave security, cure, cut glass, decorative sculpture, delineation, deliverance, depletion allowance, deputy, disburdening, disencumberment, dole, double, downtime, dummy, earth art, ease, easement, easing, elevation, embossing, embossment, eminence, encouragement, engraving, equal, equivalent, ersatz, exchange, excrescence, excrescency, extrusion, fake, favor, features, feeling, fellowship, figuration, figure, fill-in, financial assistance, forbearance, forgiveness, founding, framework, garden sculpture, gem-cutting, gestalt, ghost, ghostwriter, gibbosity, gibbousness, glass sculpture, glyph, glyptic, glyptograph, go, good offices, grace, grant, grant-in-aid, guaranteed annual income, guaranteed income, half time, half-time intermission, hand, healing agent, healing quality, health insurance, help, high relief, holiday, humanity, imitation, inning, innings, intaglio, intaglio rilevato, intaglio rilievo, interim, interlude, intermezzo, intermission, intermittence, interregnum, interruption, interval, ivory-carving, kindness, leniency, letup, liberation, lift, lightening, lineaments, lines, locum tenens, lost-wax process, low relief, lull, main features, makeshift, mask, medal, medallion, mercy, metal sculpture, metaphor, metonymy, ministration, ministry, mitigation, modeling, molding, mollification, monumental sculpture, next best thing, off-time, office, offices, old-age assistance, old-age insurance, opportunity, outline, paper sculpture, pardon, pathos, pause, pecuniary aid, pension, personnel, phony, pinch hitter, pity, place, plaquette, plaster casting, plastic art, plateau, point of repose, portrait sculpture, prescription, price support, profile, projection, prominence, protection, protrusion, protuberance, protuberancy, proxy, public assistance, public welfare, quarter, quiet spell, reassurance, receipt, recess, recipe, redress, reinforcements, release, relief-carving, relievo, remedial measure, remedy, remission, replacement, representative, reprieve, rescue, reserve forces, reserves, respite, resting point, restorative, retirement benefits, ringer, round, ruth, salience, salient, say, scholarship, sculptor, sculpture, sculptured glass, sculpturing, second string, secondary, self-pity, service, shapes, shell-carving, shred of comfort, sickness insurance, sign, silhouette, skeleton, social insurance, social security, social welfare, socialized medicine, softening, solace, solacement, sovereign remedy, spares, specific, specific remedy, spell, stand-in, state medicine, statuary, stipend, stone sculpture, stonecutting, sub, subsidization, subsidy, substituent, substitute, substitution, subvention, succedaneum, succor, superseder, supplanter, support, surrogate, symbol, sympathy, synecdoche, tax benefit, therapy, third string, time, time at bat, time off, time out, token, tournure, tuberosity, tuberousness, turn, unballasting, unburdening, understudy, unemployment compensation, unemployment insurance, unfreighting, unlading, unloading, unsaddling, untaxing, utility player, vacation, vicar, vice-president, vice-regent, welfare, welfare aid, welfare capitalism, welfare payments, welfare state, welfare statism, welfarism, whack, whittling, wire sculpture, womb-to-tomb security, wood carving, xyloglyphy

ROGET THESAURUS

Relief

Restoration

N restoration, restoral, reinstatement, replacement, rehabilitation, reestablishment, reconstitution, reconstruction, reproduction, renovation, renewal, revival, revivessence, reviviscence, refreshment, resuscitation, reanimation, revivification, reviction, Phenix, reorganization, renaissance, second youth, rejuvenescence, new birth, regeneration, regeneracy, regenerateness, palingenesis, reconversion, redress, retrieval, reclamation, recovery, convalescence, resumption, resumption, sanativeness, recurrence, rechauffe, rifacimento, cure, recure, sanation, healing, redintegration, rectification, instauration, repair, reparation, remanufacture, recruiting, cicatrization, disinfection, tinkering, reaction, redemption, restitution, relief, tinker, cobbler, vis medicatrix, curableness, restored, redivivus, convalescent, in a fair way, none the worse, rejuvenated, restoring, restorative, recuperative, sanative, reparative, sanatory, reparatory, curative, remedial, restorable, recoverable, sanable, remediable, retrievable, curable, in statu quo, as you were, phr, revenons a nos moutons, medecin, gueris-toi toi- meme, vestigia nulla retrorsum.

Refreshment

N refreshment, bracing, recovery of strength, recuperation, restoration, revival, repair, refection, refocillation, refreshment, regalement, bait, relief, break, spell, refreshment stand, refreshments, ice cream, cold soda, soda pop, hot dogs (food), refreshing, recuperative, refreshed, untired, unwearied.

Aid

N aid, aidance, assistance, help, opitulation, succor, support, lift, advance, furtherance, promotion, coadjuvancy, patronage, championship, countenance, favor, interest, advocacy, sustentation, subvention, alimentation, nutrition, nourishment, eutrophy, manna in the wilderness, food, means, ministry, ministration, subministration, accommodation, relief, rescue, help at a dead lift, supernatural aid, deus ex machina, supplies, reinforcements, reenforcements, succors, contingents, recruits, support, adjunct, ally, aiding, auxiliary, adjuvant, helpful, coadjuvant, subservient, ministrant, ancillary, accessory, subsidiary, at one's beck, at one's beck and call, friendly, amicable, favorable, propitious, well-disposed, neighborly, obliging, with the aid, by the aid of, on behalf of, in behalf of, in aid of, in the service of, in the name of, in favor of, in furtherance of, on account of, for the sake of, on the part of, non obstante, Int, help!, save us!, to the rescue!, alterum alterius auxilio eget, God befriend us as our cause is just, at your service.

Relief

N relief, deliverance, refreshment, easement, softening, alleviation, mitigation, palliation, soothing, lullaby, solace, consolation, comfort, encouragement, lenitive, restorative, cushion, crumb of comfort, balm in Gilead, relieving, consolatory, soothing, assuaging, assuasive, balmy, balsamic, lenitive, palliative, anodyne, curative, here comes a man of comfort.

Convexity

N convexity, prominence, projection, swelling, gibbosity, bilge, bulge, protuberance, protrusion, camber, cahot, thank-ye-ma'am, swell, intumescence, tumour, tumor, tubercle, tuberosity, excrescence, hump, hunch, bunch, boss, embossment, hub, hubble, tooth, knob, elbow, process, apophysis, condyle, bulb, node, nodule, nodosity, tongue, dorsum, bump, clump, sugar loaf, bow, mamelon, molar, belly, corporation, pot belly, gut, withers, back, shoulder, lip, flange, pimple, zit, wen, wheel, papula, pustule, pock, proud flesh, growth, sarcoma, caruncle, corn, wart, pappiloma, furuncle, polypus, fungus, fungosity, exostosis, bleb, blister, blain, boil, airbubble, blob, papule, verruca, papilla, nipple, teat, tit, titty, boob, knocker, pap, breast, dug, mammilla, proboscis, nose, neb, beak, snout, nozzle, schnoz, peg, button, stud, ridge, rib, jutty, trunnion, snag, cupola, dome, arch, balcony, eaves, pilaster, relief, relievo, cameo, bassorilievo, mezzorilevo, altorivievo, low relief, bas relief, high relief, hill, cape, promontory, mull, forehead, foreland, point of land, mole, jetty, hummock, ledge, spur, naze, ness, convex, prominent, protuberant, projecting, bossed, embossed, bossy, nodular, bunchy, clavate, clavated, claviform, hummocky, moutonne, mammiliform, papulous, papilose, hemispheric, bulbous, bowed, arched, bold, bellied, tuberous, tuberculous, tumous, cornute, odontoid, lentiform, lenticular, gibbous, club shaped, hubby, hubbly, knobby, papillose, saddle-shaped, selliform, subclavate, torose, ventricose, verrucose, salient, in relief, raised, repousse, bloated, (expanded).

Sculpture

N sculpture, insculpture, carving, statuary, high relief, low relief, bas relief, relief, relieve, bassorilievo, altorilievo, mezzorilievo, intaglio, anaglyph, medal, medallion, cameo, marble, bronze, terra cotta, papier-mache, ceramic ware, pottery, porcelain, china, earthenware, cloisonne, enamel, faience, Laocoon, satsuma, statue, cast, glyptotheca, sculptured, v, in relief, anaglyptic, ceroplastic, ceramic, parian, marble, xanthian.