alentir

Alentir is an archaic, literary verb meaning to slow down — the historical ancestor of the modern ralentir, which has almost entirely replaced it in everyday and even formal French. It survives mostly in older literature.

• Le cavalier alentit son cheval en approchant du village. — The rider slowed his horse as he approached the village.
• Ce vieux texte emploie alentir là où l'on dirait aujourd'hui ralentir. — This old text uses alentir where we would say ralentir today.
• Rien ne semblait alentir sa marche. — Nothing seemed to slow his pace.

Learners should use ralentir in modern French — alentir is a literary archaism that would sound strange or dated in ordinary speech.

Often confused with ralentir.