disarming
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disarming
Explanation
When something's disarming, it calms hostility. A disarming smile from you can transform what could have been a tense conversation with an angry neighbor. When you disarm a security system, it won't go off — everything is okay. The same thing happens when you act in a disarming way. A disarming gesture can make people feel less on their guard, like a famous actor whose disarming gesture shows he doesn't take himself so seriously after all. Disarming can also refer to the act of reducing military arms, or weapons.
Vocabulary lists containing disarming
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968)
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This Week in Pop Culture: December 29, 2018 - January 4, 2019
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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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.
She was a disarming contradiction: manufactured and utterly sincere.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
A man who was hailed a hero for disarming one of the Bondi Beach shooters in December has had assault charges against him dropped by police.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Fruit seller Ahmed al Ahmed was hailed as a hero after footage showed him disarming a gunman during the December 14 attack, which killed 15 people at a Jewish festival.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
These sorts of surprises bloom from the center of Olivia Wilde’s latest directorial effort, “The Invite,” a chamber comedy that’s equal parts droll and disarming.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
I wanted to know what secrets Diego was hiding under his ever-changing wardrobe and disarming smile, but I didn’t know how to ask.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
