Other forms: reliefs, relieves
Relief is the lightness you feel when a worry finally lifts. A sense of relief, to my relief, what a relief.
It also means the easing of pain — pain relief, relief from the symptoms — and aid given to people in need: disaster relief, a relief fund. A relief is a replacement worker who takes over a shift, and in art a relief is a carving that stands out from a flat surface. Note relieved, the adjective for the feeling, and relief map, which shows heights and hollows in the ground.
1nounreliefThe lightness felt when a worry goes away.
“The relief when the phone finally rang was extraordinary.”
2nouneasingThe easing of pain or hardship.
“The tablets give a few hours of relief and no more.”
3nounaidAid given to people in need.
“Relief supplies reached the valley on the fourth day.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
relief is a lifting of burden.
Old French relief comes from relever, to raise up — Latin re-, again, plus levare, to lift, the same root as lever and levity. Every sense is a lifting: of a burden, of a shift, of a carved figure off its background.
Old French
relief — assistance
English, today
relief
From Old French relief (“assistance”), from Old French relever (“to relieve”), from Latin relevo (“to raise up, make light”). See also relieve.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA