Both Uses of
relent
in
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- Their jobs and their family set them apart, but they were best known for their unrelenting meanness.†
p. 66.1 *unrelenting = no less intensestandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unrelenting means not and reverses the meaning of relenting. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- I was being crushed by two unrelenting forces: the uneasy suspicion that I might not be a normal female and my newly awakening sexual appetite.†
p. 280.9
Definition:
to give in; or to be less intense