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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

relent.

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

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɹɪˈlɛnt/

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

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

  2. To slacken; to abate.

    intransitive
    We waited for the storm to relent before we ventured outside.
    He will not relent in his effort to reclaim his victory.

  3. To lessen, make less severe or intense.

    obsolete · transitive

  4. To become less rigid or hard; to soften; to yield, for example by dissolving or melting

    dated · intransitive
Where this word comes from

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

noun/ɹɪˈlɛnt/

  1. A stay; a stop; a delay.

  2. A relenting.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

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

adj/ɹɪˈlɛnt/

  1. Softhearted; yielding.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.