defuse

English

Etymology 1

From de- +‎ fuse.

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)

1. (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?

2. (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^[1]:

     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.

   • 2020, Alex Stitt, ACT for Gender Identity: The Comprehensive Guide‎^[2], page 202:

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

Usage notes

• May be confused with diffuse (“to spread through fluid”), especially the figurative sense.

Derived terms

• defusable
• defuser
• undefused

 

Related terms

• defusion
• defusive
• defuze

Translations

to remove the fuse from a bomb

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: zərərsizləşdirmək
• Basque: indar-gabetu
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拆除（引信）

• Czech: zneškodnit (cs) pf, zneškodňovat impf
• Danish: demontere
• Dutch: ontmantelen (nl), onschadelijk maken
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: purkaa (fi), tehdä vaarattomaksi
• French: désamorcer (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: entschärfen (de)
• Hungarian: hatástalanít (hu)
• Italian: disinnescare (it)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: entschäerfen
• Polish: rozbrajać impf, rozbroić pf
• Portuguese: desarmar (pt)
• Romanian: dezamorsa (ro)
• Russian: размини́ровать (ru) impf (razminírovatʹ), размини́ровано pf (razminírovano)
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: desactivar (es)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: знешко́дити pf (zneškódyty), знешко́джувати impf (zneškódžuvaty)

to make something less dangerous

• Basque: baretu, lasaitu
• Dutch: de angel halen uit
• Finnish: laukaista (fi), purkaa jännitys
• French: désamorcer (fr)
• German: entschärfen (de)
• Polish: rozładowywać (pl) impf, rozładować (pl) pf
• Portuguese: apaziguar (pt), acalmar (pt)
• Romanian: dezamorsa (ro)
• Spanish: apaciguar (es), calmar (es)

Etymology 2

Compare diffuse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈfjuːz/
• Rhymes: -uːz
• Homophones: diffuse

Verb

defuse (third-person singular simple present defuses, present participle defusing, simple past and past participle defused)

1. (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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], line 2:

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