Indulge vs Relent - What's the difference?
indulge | relent |
: To yield to a temptation or desire.
To satisfy the wishes or whims of.
* Atterbury
To give way to (a habit or temptation); not to oppose or restrain.
To grant an extension to the deadline of a payment.
To grant as by favour; to bestow in concession, or in compliance with a wish or request.
* Jeremy Taylor
* Alexander Pope
To become less severe or intense; to become less hard, harsh, or cruel; to soften in temper; to become more mild and tender; to feel compassion.
* Shakespeare
To slacken; to abate.
(obsolete) To lessen, make less severe or fast.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.iv:
(dated) To become less rigid or hard; to soften; to yield; to dissolve; to melt; to deliquesce.
* Boyle
* Alexander Pope
As verbs the difference between indulge and relent
is that indulge is : To yield to a temptation or desire while relent is to become less severe or intense; to become less hard, harsh, or cruel; to soften in temper; to become more mild and tender; to feel compassion.As a noun relent is
stay; stop; delay.indulge
English
Verb
(indulg)- He looked at the chocolate but didn't indulge .
- I indulged in drinking on the weekend.
- Grandma indulges the kids with sweets.
- I love to indulge myself with beautiful clothes.
- Hope in another life implies that we indulge ourselves in the gratifications of this very sparingly.
- to indulge sloth, pride, selfishness, or inclinations
- persuading us that something must be indulged to public manners
- Yet, yet a moment, one dim ray of light / Indulge , dread Chaos, and eternal Night!
Synonyms
* (to satisfy the wishes of) coddle, cosset, pamper, spoil * See alsoAnagrams
* * ----relent
English
Derived terms
* relentlessVerb
(en verb)- He relented of his plan to murder his opponent, and decided just to teach him a lesson instead.
- I did, I suppose, hope that she might finally relent a little and make some conciliatory response or other. (from "The Remains of the Day"? by Kazuo Ishiguro)
- Can you behold / My sighs and tears, and will not once relent ?
- We waited for the storm to relent before we ventured outside.
- He will not relent in his effort to reclaim his victory.
- But nothing might relent her hastie flight; / So deepe the deadly feare of that foule swaine / Was earst impressed in her gentle spright [...].
- [Salt of tartar] placed in a cellar will begin to relent .
- When opening buds salute the welcome day, / And earth, relenting , feels the genial ray.