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Relent vs Lenient - What's the difference?

relent | lenient |

As nouns the difference between relent and lenient

is that relent is stay; stop; delay while lenient is (medicine) a lenitive; an emollient.

As a verb 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 an adjective lenient is

lax; tolerant of deviation; permissive; not strict.

relent

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Stay; stop; delay.

    • Derived terms

    * relentless

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • 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.
    • 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)
  • * Shakespeare
    • Can you behold / My sighs and tears, and will not once relent ?
  • 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.
  • (obsolete) To lessen, make less severe or fast.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.iv:
    • But nothing might relent her hastie flight; / So deepe the deadly feare of that foule swaine / Was earst impressed in her gentle spright [...].
  • (dated) To become less rigid or hard; to soften; to yield; to dissolve; to melt; to deliquesce.
  • * Boyle
    • [Salt of tartar] placed in a cellar will begin to relent .
  • * Alexander Pope
    • When opening buds salute the welcome day, / And earth, relenting , feels the genial ray.

    lenient

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Lax; tolerant of deviation; permissive; not strict.
    • The standard is fairly lenient , so use your discretion.
  • * 1847 , , (Jane Eyre), Chapter XVIII
    • But in other points, as well as this, I was growing very lenient to my master; I was forgetting all his faults, for which I had once kept a sharp look-out. It had formerly been my endeavour to study all sides of his character; to take the bad with the good; and from the just weighing of both, to form an equitable judgment. Now I saw no bad.

    Synonyms

    * lax, permissive

    Antonyms

    * strict * severe * stringent

    Related terms

    * lenience * leniency * lenity

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (medicine) A lenitive; an emollient.

    • External links

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