relief

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
relief/rɪˈliːf/

▶noun

• 1 the alleviation or removal of pain, anxiety, or distress.

  ■ a feeling or cause of relief.

  ■ (usu. light relief) a temporary break in a generally tense or tedious situation.

• 2 financial or practical assistance given to those in special need or difficulty.

• 3 a person or group of people replacing others who have been on duty.

  ■ Brit. an extra vehicle providing supplementary public transport at peak times or in emergencies.

• 4 the raising of a siege on a town.

• 5 distinctness due to being accentuated.

• 6 a method of moulding, carving, or stamping in which the design stands out from the surface, to a greater (high relief) or lesser (low relief) extent.

  ■ a representation of relief given by an arrangement of line, colour, or shading.

– origin ME: from OFr., from relever ‘raise up, relieve’, from L. relevare ‘raise again, alleviate’; sense 6 via Fr. from Ital. rilievo, from rilevare ‘raise’.