defuse
or de·fuze
- to remove the fuze from (a bomb, mine, etc.).
- to make less dangerous, tense, or embarrassing: to defuse a potentially ugly situation.
- to grow less dangerous; weaken.
Origin of defuse
Related Words for defuse
deactivate, soothe, lessen, alleviate, diminish, subdue, cripple, soften, disable, restrain, mollify, pacify, pad, moderate, weaken, demilitarizeExamples from the Web for defuse
Contemporary Examples of defuse
But they still could have done more to defuse the calls for violence from their allies.
De Blasio and the New York City Protesters Have No Blood on Their HandsJacob Siegel
December 22, 2014
Principle-based decision making could boost perceived integrity and defuse an overly personalized DC political climate.
One possible way to defuse the financial incentives and advantages to doping is to legalize it.
On Monday night the contours of a deal to defuse the ticking fiscal bomb emerged in the Senate.
Obama has failed to defuse Republican opposition or devise a long-term plan.
What the Rest of the World Thinks of America’s ShutdownOctober 3, 2013
Historical Examples of defuse
So we had our people in Gdynia defuse the thing after it was put on board the ship, but otherwise leave it entirely alone.
One-ShotJames Benjamin Blish
At one base I was waiting when they wheeled in a stretcher with the remains of an Englishman who had been trying to defuse a bomb.
The Biography of a RabbitRoy Benson
The stem of the black alder of this country before mentioned as arriving to great size, is simply branching and defuse.
The Journals of Lewis and ClarkMeriwether Lewis and William Clark
defuse
sometimes US defuze
- to remove the triggering device of (a bomb, etc)
- to remove the cause of tension from (a crisis, etc)