These words refer to a feeling or situation of pleasurable serenity. Comfort suggests the possession of complete peace of mind and physical contentment, either through the satisfaction of all needs and desires or through the elimination of anything unpleasant or disturbing: airlines that vie with each other over details of passenger comfort ; prescribing a pill that would allow him to sleep in comfort ; beachgoers seeking comfort from the heat wave. Relief is specifically restricted to this last possibility of comfort, stressing the removal of unpleasant or painful stimuli. Even here, relief is more restricted to expressing the mere absence of negative elements, whereas comfort might suggest replacing them with something positive: a medication for relief of sunburn; finding relief from his doubts but little comfort in the new doctrine.

Ease and relaxation refer exclusively to positive states and so relate to a side of comfort in contrast to simple relief . Ease has the widest range of any of these words, referring to things that make for contentment, like comfort , but going beyond this word to suggest utter naturalness, lack of tension, or profound mental and physical peacefulness: taking our ease in the cool of the garden; the ease with which she made the arrangements; a smile that put us immediately at ease ; never having felt so full of ease in his life. Relaxation is much more limited in reference than ease ; it refers particularly to a state of freedom from or dwindling away of tension: a secluded corner where he could work with complete relaxation ; a relaxation of hostilities; arm muscles paired in a continual opposition of tension and relaxation . The word also has a special informal use to pertain to recreation: asking him what he did for relaxation . Leisure is the most restricted of these words in relating exclusively to this last use of relaxation . Leisure refers, most specifically, to one’s free time after work, regardless of how the time is spent: having the leisure to pursue a new hobby; executives who carry office tensions to the leisure of the golf course.

Rest and repose are an intensification of possibilities for ease , suggesting an extreme peacefulness and a quiescence approaching sleep. Rest , in fact, may be used synonymously with sleep, or as a group word to include both waking and sleeping relaxation : recommending plenty of rest for the patient following the operation. As this example shows, rest may be used like relief to suggest a restorative process. Repose is the most formal of these words here and gives a lyrical tone. It suggests an utter stillness or lack of movement, implying a complete cessation of both desire and tension. Where relaxation can suggest a noisy letting off of steam, repose always suggests a profound quiet, as of contemplation: a repose so deep that he didn’t hear the conductor asking for his ticket; the town’s old-world sense of decorum and repose .