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)
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
This Week in Pop Culture: December 29, 2018 - January 4, 2019
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
This begins with two small “pilot zones” the IDF will hand to the Lebanese Armed Forces, which are charged with disarming “non-state armed groups”—the preferred Lebanese euphemism for Hezbollah—and dismantling terror infrastructure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
The combination of thematic sincerity and confident visual sophistication makes for a strangely disarming, almost lyrical experience, closer to a poem than a film — a feeling amplified by the movie’s brisk length.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
That suggests the group is open to giving up some governance responsibilities, though it is resisting disarming.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
Joshua Zarka, Israel's ambassador to France, said on Tuesday that Beirut had not taken meaningful steps toward disarming the group.
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026
Clean, polite, nice voice, good diction, a pretty decent-looking fellow, with a very disarming smile—and in the beginning he smiled quite a lot.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
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.
