defuse
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English
Etymology 1
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /diːˈfjuːz/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -uːz
Verb
defuse (third-person singular simple present defuses, present participle defusing, simple past and past participle defused)
- (transitive) To remove the fuse from (e.g. a bomb).
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Noveria:
- 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?
- (transitive, figurative) To make less dangerous, tense, or hostile.
- to defuse a hostage situation
- 2008 April 4, Michael Moss, “Rising Leader for Next Phase of Al Qaeda’s War”, in The New York Times:
- In recent months, those tactics have come to include defensive maneuvers aimed at defusing the media counteroperations of the United States and its allies.
- 2010, Edwin M. Truman, Sovereign Wealth Funds: Threat Or Salvation?, →ISBN, page 8:
- 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.
- 2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 June 2013:
- 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.
Usage notes
- May be confused with diffuse (“to spread through fluid”), especially the figurative sense.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to remove the fuse from a bomb
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to make something less dangerous
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Etymology 2
Compare diffuse.
Pronunciation
Verb
defuse (third-person singular simple present defuses, present participle defusing, simple past and past participle defused)
- (obsolete) To disorder; to make shapeless.
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 2:
- If but as well I other accents borrow / That can my speech defuse,