damage control

American  

noun

1. a department or group, as aboard a naval vessel, responsible for taking action to control damage caused by fire, collision, etc.

2. any efforts, as by a company, to curtail losses, counteract unfavorable publicity, etc.

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damage control Idioms  

1. Measures to minimize or curtail loss or harm. For example, As soon as they discovered the leak to the press, the senator's office worked night and day on damage control. Used literally since the 1950s, specifically for limiting the effect of an accident on a ship, this term began to be used figuratively in the 1970s.

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Other Word Forms

• damage-control
  adjective

Example Sentences

"It was a hush email," and "an effort to damage control," says one worker - while another says it made her "furious".

From BBC • May 27, 2026

But by the time he got there, his monologue had been transformed from a pure celebration of his overnight success into an exercise in damage control.

From Salon • Mar. 6, 2026

Amodei apologized for the comment and said Anthropic would go to court to fight the supply-chain risk designation, but he will likely have to do more damage control to co-exist with the administration moving forward.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026

A day after federal prosecutors announced that the catastrophic Palisades fire was caused by the rekindling of a smaller arson fire days earlier, Los Angeles city officials were in damage control mode.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 13, 2026

In a minute, people will be here to do damage control on Peeta’s condition and the words that came out of his mouth.

From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins