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Synonyms

bury the hatchet

Cultural  
  1. To agree to end a quarrel: “Jerry and Cindy had been avoiding each other since the divorce, but I saw them together this morning, so they must have buried the hatchet.”


bury the hatchet Idioms  
  1. Make peace; settle one's differences. For example, Toward the end of the year, the roommates finally decided to bury the hatchet. Although some believe this term comes from a Native American custom for declaring peace between warring tribes, others say it comes from hang up one's hatchet, a term dating from the early 1300s (well before Columbus landed in the New World). The word bury replaced hang up in the 1700s.


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.

And is it finally time for England to bury the hatchet with Ollie Robinson?

From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026

The hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe also made the trip to bury the hatchet with the president-elect.

From Slate • Dec. 16, 2024

Mr. Kilmeade pressed the issue, saying she needed to bury the hatchet with Mr. Trump.

From New York Times • Nov. 30, 2023

In 1956, Martin walked away, leaving Lewis to seethe — they wouldn’t bury the hatchet until Dean showed up unannounced to Jerry’s annual muscular dystrophy telethon in 1976 — and made movies on his own.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 7, 2022

“Come on, Hermione, come and have some food,” Harry said, looking over at Ron and wondering whether he was in a good enough mood to bury the hatchet.

From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling

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