# repose

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɹɪˈpəʊz/ · frequency rank #39,529

## Definitions
1. To lay (someone, or part of their body) down to rest.
2. To rest (oneself), especially by going to sleep.
3. Followed by from or (obsolete) of: to cause (oneself) to take a rest from some activity; also, to allow (oneself) to recover from some activity.
4. To give (someone) rest; to refresh (someone) by giving rest.
5. To cause (oneself) to have faith in or rely on someone or something.
6. To give (someone) accommodation for the night.
7. To lean or recline, sit down, or lie down to rest; to rest.
8. To lean or recline, sit down, or lie down to rest; to rest.
9. Followed by on or upon: of a thing: to lie or be physically positioned on something, especially horizontally; to rest on or be supported by something.
10. Followed by on or upon: of light, a look, etc.: to fall or rest (and often remain for a while) on something; to alight, to dwell.
11. Followed by on or upon: to be based on; to depend or rely on.
12. To cease activity to rest or recover; also, to have a period free from activity or disturbance.
13. To have faith in; to confide, to trust.
14. To lie still and unmoving.

## Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English reposen (“to rest”), from Anglo-Norman reposer, reposir, and Middle French reposer, from Old French reposer, repauser (“to become calm; to be peaceful; to rest; to be immobile; to lie or be placed; to cease, stop; to neglect”) (modern French reposer), from Latin repausāre, the present active infinitive of repausō (“(Late Latin) to be at rest; to lie down, rest; to sleep; to calm, pacify; (Latin) to halt temporarily, pause”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again; back, backwards’) + pausō (“to cease, halt; to pause”) (from pausa (“a halt, stop; a pause; an end”), from Ancient Greek παῦσῐς (paûsĭs, “ceasing, stopping”), from παύω (paúō, “to cease; to make to cease, stop; to bring to an end; to hinder”) (further etymology uncertain; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, little; smallness”)) + -σῐς (-sĭs, suffix forming abstract nouns or nouns of action, process, or result)).
The noun is derived from Late Middle English repose, from Anglo-Norman repous, repos, and Middle French repos, repose, from Old French repos (“calm; rest; period or state of sleep; state of immobility; state of inaction”) (modern French repos), from reposer, repauser (verb) (see above).
Noun etymology 1 sense 12.3 (“technique of including in a painting an area or areas which are dark, indistinct, or soft in tone”) is borrowed from French repos.
Cognates
Catalan reposar (verb), repòs (noun)
Italian riposare (verb), riposo (noun)
Old Occitan repausar, repauzar (verb), repaus (noun)
Portuguese repousar (verb), repouso (noun)
Spanish reposar (verb), reposo (noun)

## Easily confused with
- **rose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/repose-vs-rose)
- **reps** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/repose-vs-reps)
- **reuse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/repose-vs-reuse)
- **repost** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/repose-vs-repost)
- **revise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/repose-vs-revise)
- **revoke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/repose-vs-revoke)
- **repute** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/repose-vs-repute)
- **reprise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/repose-vs-reprise)
- **response** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/repose-vs-response)
- **repo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/repo-vs-repose)
- **Reese** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reese-vs-repose)
- **report** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/report-vs-repose)
- **remove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/remove-vs-repose)
- **remote** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/remote-vs-repose)
- **refuse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/refuse-vs-repose)
- **redone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/redone-vs-repose)
- **remorse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/remorse-vs-repose)

## Common misspellings (8)
`erpose`, `reopse`, `repoes`, `reposse`, `reppose`, `repsoe`, `rpeose`, `rrepose`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/repose