unsharpen

From un- +‎ sharpen.

unsharpen (third-person singular simple present unsharpens, present participle unsharpening, simple past and past participle unsharpened)

1. (transitive) To render unsharp; to spoil the sharpness of (something).
   • 2006, Marius K. Lüdicke, A Theory of Marketing: Outline of a Social Systems Perspective, Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, →ISBN, page 84:

     Thus, every product is branded with a legal marking, or a trademark respectively. In addition, as every product has a name, every product allows us to associate knowledge and meaning to this name. As the differentiation of products and brands unsharpens this distinction, we suggest the distinction of brands and the brand systems: […]

   • 2022 October 15, Aimee Bender, “In Robin McLean’s Stories, Life Is Tough but So Are the Living”, in The New York Times‎:

     That said, there is a curious solace in settling into a worldview by a writer who so refuses to unsharpen her vision, whose investment is in the clarity and freshness of the imagery and an honest portrayal of our craven impulses.

2. (transitive, computer graphics) To undo a sharpening operation on (an image).
   • 2012, Haje Jan Kamps, Focus on Travel Photography, page 91:

     When it sharpens the image, you can't unsharpen it again without losing data.

• Not to be confused with unsharp.

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