disarming
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disarming
Explanation
When something's disarming, it calms hostility. A disarming smile from you can transform what could have been a tense conversation with an angry neighbor. When you disarm a security system, it won't go off — everything is okay. The same thing happens when you act in a disarming way. A disarming gesture can make people feel less on their guard, like a famous actor whose disarming gesture shows he doesn't take himself so seriously after all. Disarming can also refer to the act of reducing military arms, or weapons.
Vocabulary lists containing disarming
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968)
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This Week in Pop Culture: December 29, 2018 - January 4, 2019
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Disarming may not be as unthinkable as it once was.
From BBC • Feb. 6, 2025
Disarming her colleagues with her New York sophistication and Harvard credentials, Rebecca handles her troubled young charges with masterly ease.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 30, 2023
It was produced with support from the International Center for Journalism’s Disarming Disinformation project, with primary funding from The Scripps Howard Foundation.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 28, 2023
Disarming the country’s many militias and consolidating forces into a single national army is viewed as one of the major goals of a new government.
From New York Times • Aug. 28, 2022
It worked — the Disarming Spell made the spider drop him, but that meant that Harry fell twelve feet onto his already injured leg, which crumpled beneath him.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
