dial down

British

verb

(adverb) to reduce or become reduced

to dial down an argument

"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

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:

dial down

Over a private lunch, the two leaders animatedly exchanged ideas on how France and Canada could help each other dial down their reliance on America.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

So Wall Street had plenty of time to dial down its profit estimates.

From MarketWatch ● May 2, 2026

"Our objective here is to get everyone to calm down a bit, dial down the rhetoric, and deliver" on common goals, he added.

From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026

Streaming services are now required to turn the dial down on commercial advertisements that blare louder than providers’ content under legislation signed into law Monday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025

I placed the bread in the toaster and turned the dial down to the lightest setting.

From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin

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