bas-re·lief (bä?r?-l?f?)n. See low relief.[French, from Italian bassorilievo : basso, low (from Medieval Latin bassus) + rilievo, relief (from rilevare, to raise, from Latin relev?re; see relieve).]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.bas-relief (?b??r??li?f; ?bæs-; ?b??r??li?f; ?bæs-) or bass-reliefn (Art Terms) sculpture in low relief, in which the forms project slightly from the background but no part is completely detached from it. Also called (Italian): basso rilievo [C17: from French, from Italian basso rilievo low relief; see base2, relief]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014bas-re?lief (?b? r??lif, ?bæs-; ?b? r??lif, ?bæs-) n. relief sculpture in which the figures project slightly from the background. Also called low relief. [1660?70;