defuse

present singular third person defuses · participle present defusing · participle past defused · past defused · alternative defuze

1. transitiveTo remove the fuse from (e.g. a bomb).

   Shepard: I wear a lot of hats, Mr. Vargas. Some days I shut down criminals. Some days I defuse nukes. Some days I like to enjoy private vices. You understand me?

   2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Noveria

2. figurativelytransitiveTo make less dangerous, tense, or hostile.

   to defuse a hostage situation

   5 more examples

   The diplomats are trying to defuse the escalating crisis.

   In recent months, those tactics have come to include defensive maneuvers aimed at defusing the media counteroperations of the United States and its allies.

   2008 April 4, Michael Moss, “Rising Leader for Next Phase of Al Qaeda’s War”, in The New York Times

   As a result of the Santiago Principles and other parallel efforts at education such as the SWF scoreboard that I have featured in my research, a substantial amount of distrust surrounding SWFs has been defused.

   2010, Edwin M. Truman, Sovereign Wealth Funds: Threat Or Salvation?, →ISBN, page 8

   Shaken by the biggest challenge to their authority in years, Brazil’s leaders made conciliatory gestures on Tuesday to try to defuse the protests engulfing the nation’s cities.

   2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 Jun 2013

   Defying this, Western queer culture actively defuses from cisnormative values, yet in so doing may also fuse with their new, queernormative value constructs.

   2020, Alex Stitt, ACT for Gender Identity: The Comprehensive Guide, page 202

   Synonyms: de-escalate

present singular third person defuses · participle present defusing · participle past defused · past defused · alternative defuze

1. obsoleteTo disorder; to make shapeless.

   If but as well I other accents borrow / That can my speech defuse,

   c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], line 2