Synonyms

defuse

American

[dee-fyooz] / diˈfjuz /

Or defuze

verb (used with object)

to remove the fuze from (a bomb, mine, etc.).
to make less dangerous, tense, or embarrassing.

to defuse a potentially ugly situation.

verb (used without object)

to grow less dangerous; weaken.

defuse British

/ diːˈfjuːz /

verb

to remove the triggering device of (a bomb, etc)
to remove the cause of tension from (a crisis, etc)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Commonly Confused

See diffuse

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

defuser

noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of defuse

First recorded in 1940–45; de- + fuse ¹

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.

See Examples For:

defuse defuses defused defusing

The volunteers risking their lives to defuse Indonesia's wildfire 'carbon bombs'

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

Cooper said he had to defuse that encounter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

On Tuesday, before Svyrydenko's announcement, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk -- at loggerheads with the country's nationalist president on a number of fronts -- sought to defuse the tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

But the “nope” numbers reveal how Wembanyama could defuse Portland’s attack without laying a finger on the ball.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026

Maybe if Guitar was back in the city now, among familiar surroundings, Milkman could defuse him.

From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison

He defuses them, crushing the cans and dragging them into the driveway.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2025

The men work for Turn Up Knox, a year-old outreach program that mentors kids and defuses situations that could escalate into violence.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 24, 2023

An unprecedented compromise between the enemy states, the deal opens the way for offshore energy exploration and defuses one source of potential conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

From Reuters ● Oct. 18, 2022

Reporting their results this Wednesday in The Proceedings of the Royal Society A, the team concludes that water both makes and defuses these doughy volcanic bombs.

From New York Times ● Sep. 11, 2021

And although there couldn’t be a more neutral statement, it defuses any insectious worries I might have given her.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

Mr. Homan defused a combustible situation by adjusting the style and substance of immigration enforcement.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026

She declined to answer questions on whether tensions had been defused with Washington.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2026

The summit will offer Brussels the chance to turn the page after a bruising transatlantic crisis over Greenland -- now seemingly defused.

From Barron's ● Jan. 24, 2026

Traders will weigh whether the risk in Iran is “genuinely defused or simply resting,” because calm in the Persian Gulf has a “habit of braking without warning,” he added.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 16, 2026

As with the spy Penkovsky before him, the information Gordievsky passed to his handlers, experts believe, may well have defused a global crisis and averted nuclear war.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau

“Maybe the actions we associate with defusing the bomb are the ones most likely to set off the bomb.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

Earlier this week, Netflix converted its $27.75 a share bid to an all-cash offer in hopes of defusing some of Paramount’s criticisms of its deal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026

She has tightened drug enforcement along the border, expelled imprisoned cartel bosses wanted by the U.S. and imposed 50% tariffs on Chinese-made vehicles and other goods, defusing U.S. threats of harsher tariffs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 27, 2025

But O’Donnell likens the dynamics of the cast at that time to a dysfunctional sisterhood, adding that Morgan defusing the situation with Bensimon felt like someone trying to comfort a sibling.

From Salon ● May 20, 2025

Since they had moved to Ravenel, Lillian had charted his moods like a cartographer, and her instinct for defusing his temper before it erupted told her this was a day for caution.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023