relever

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French relever, from Latin relevāre, corresponding to re- +‎ lever.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.l(ə).ve/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

relever

1. (transitive) to stand up (again); to stand, to right (a vehicle etc.)
2. (transitive) to help (someone) to their feet; to help up
   • Grace à lui, partout présent dans le carnage comme une providence, ceux qui tombaient étaient relevés, transportés dans la salle basse, et pansés. (Victor Hugo, Les Misérables XXIII)

     Thanks to him, ever-present in the carnage like a providence, those who fell were helped up, transported to the lower room, and bandaged.

3. (transitive) to pull up (socks etc.); to lift, raise (skirt etc.)
   • Alors elle se décida, et relevant sa robe, montra une forte jambe de vachère, mal serrée en un bas grossier. (Guy de Maupassant, ‘La Maison Tellier’)

     Then she made a decision, and lifting her dress, showed a strong, farm-girl's leg, in a badly-fitting coarse stocking.

4. (transitive) to put up (hair)
   • Elle avait simplement relevé ses cheveux et passé un peignoir de laine blanche. (Emile Zola, Germinal)

     She'd simply put her hair up and thrown on a white woollen dressing gown.

5. (transitive) to heighten, raise, lift (up); to increase
   • —Mon enfant, où sont les tiennes? dit-il en lui relevant la tête. (Honoré de Balzac, Une Fille d'Ève)

     ‘Where are yours, my child?’ he said, lifting his head.

6. (transitive) to restore, rebuild
7. (transitive) to season (food)
8. (transitive) to take down, note, copy out
9. (transitive) to react to, answer, respond to
10. (intransitive) to ride up (of clothes)
11. (reflexive) to get up again, get to one's feet
12. (transitive) to take up (a challenge)

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il relève and the third-person singular future indicative il relèvera.

Conjugation of relever (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	relever
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	relevant /ʁə.l(ə).vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		relevé /ʁə.l(ə).ve/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	relève /ʁə.lɛv/	relèves /ʁə.lɛv/	relève /ʁə.lɛv/	relevons /ʁə.l(ə).vɔ̃/	relevez /ʁə.l(ə).ve/	relèvent /ʁə.lɛv/
	imperfect	relevais /ʁə.l(ə).vɛ/	relevais /ʁə.l(ə).vɛ/	relevait /ʁə.l(ə).vɛ/	relevions /ʁə.lə.vjɔ̃/	releviez /ʁə.lə.vje/	relevaient /ʁə.l(ə).vɛ/
	past historic2	relevai /ʁə.l(ə).ve/	relevas /ʁə.l(ə).va/	releva /ʁə.l(ə).va/	relevâmes /ʁə.l(ə).vam/	relevâtes /ʁə.l(ə).vat/	relevèrent /ʁə.l(ə).vɛʁ/
	future	relèverai /ʁə.lɛ.vʁe/ or /ʁə.le.vʁe/	relèveras /ʁə.lɛ.vʁa/ or /ʁə.le.vʁa/	relèvera /ʁə.lɛ.vʁa/ or /ʁə.le.vʁa/	relèverons /ʁə.lɛ.vʁɔ̃/ or /ʁə.le.vʁɔ̃/	relèverez /ʁə.lɛ.vʁe/ or /ʁə.le.vʁe/	relèveront /ʁə.lɛ.vʁɔ̃/ or /ʁə.le.vʁɔ̃/
	conditional	relèverais /ʁə.lɛ.vʁɛ/ or /ʁə.le.vʁɛ/	relèverais /ʁə.lɛ.vʁɛ/ or /ʁə.le.vʁɛ/	relèverait /ʁə.lɛ.vʁɛ/ or /ʁə.le.vʁɛ/	relèverions /ʁə.lɛ.və.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ʁə.le.və.ʁjɔ̃/	relèveriez /ʁə.lɛ.və.ʁje/ or /ʁə.le.və.ʁje/	relèveraient /ʁə.lɛ.vʁɛ/ or /ʁə.le.vʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	relève /ʁə.lɛv/	relèves /ʁə.lɛv/	relève /ʁə.lɛv/	relevions /ʁə.lə.vjɔ̃/	releviez /ʁə.lə.vje/	relèvent /ʁə.lɛv/
	imperfect2	relevasse /ʁə.l(ə).vas/	relevasses /ʁə.l(ə).vas/	relevât /ʁə.l(ə).va/	relevassions /ʁə.l(ə).va.sjɔ̃/	relevassiez /ʁə.l(ə).va.sje/	relevassent /ʁə.l(ə).vas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	relève /ʁə.lɛv/	—	relevons /ʁə.l(ə).vɔ̃/	relevez /ʁə.l(ə).ve/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• relever de
• relever le gant

Further reading

• “relever”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• révéler

Latin

Verb

relever

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of relevō

Old French

Etymology

From Latin relevāre, present active infinitive of relevō, corresponding to re- +‎ lever.

Verb

relever

1. to lift again; to relift

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-v, *-vs, *-vt are modified to f, s, t. This verb has a stressed present stem reliev distinct from the unstressed stem relev. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of relever (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		relever			avoir relevé
gerund		en relevant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		relevant
past participle		relevé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	relief	relieves	relieve	relevons	relevez	relievent
	imperfect	relevoie, releveie, relevoe, releveve	relevoies, releveies, relevoes, releveves	relevoit, releveit, relevot, releveve	releviiens, releviens	releviiez, releviez	relevoient, releveient, relevoent, relevevent
	preterite	relevai	relevas	releva	relevames	relevastes	releverent
	future	releverai	releveras	relevera	releverons	releveroiz, relevereiz, releverez	releveront
	conditional	releveroie, relevereie	releveroies, relevereies	releveroit, relevereit	releveriiens, releveriens	releveriiez, releveriez	releveroient, relevereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	relief	relies	reliet	relevons	relevez	relievent
	imperfect	relevasse	relevasses	relevast	relevissons, relevissiens	relevissoiz, relevissez, relevissiez	relevassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	relieve	—	relevons	relevez	—

Descendants

• French: relever