REPRIEVE

[verb], [noun] - (to make) an official order stopping or delaying the punishment, esp. by death, of a prisonerHe was sentenced to death but was granted a last-minute reprieve. [C](figurative) The injection provided only a temporary reprieve from (= delay before) the pain. [C](figurative) The government has reprieved the hospitals threatened with closure, and they will now stay open until next year. [T]