Fromde- +fuse.
defuse (third-person singular simple presentdefuses,present participledefusing,simple past and past participledefused)
- (transitive) Toremove thefuse from (e.g. abomb).
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 Idefuse nukes. Some days I like to enjoy private vices. You understand me?
- (transitive, figurative) To make lessdangerous,tense, orhostile.
todefuse a hostage situation
2008 April 4, Michael Moss, “Rising Leader for Next Phase of Al Qaeda’s War”, inThe New York Times[1]:In recent months, those tactics have come to include defensive maneuvers aimed atdefusing 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 beendefused.
2013 June 18,Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, inNew York Times, retrieved21 June 2013:Shaken by the biggest challenge to their authority in years, Brazil’s leaders made conciliatory gestures on Tuesday to try todefuse the protests engulfing the nation’s cities.
2020, Alex Stitt,ACT for Gender Identity: The Comprehensive Guide[2], page202:Defying this, Western queer culture activelydefuses from cisnormative values, yet in so doing may also fuse with their new, queernormative value constructs.
- May be confused withdiffuse(“to spread through fluid”), especially the figurative sense.
to remove the fuse from a bomb
to make something less dangerous
Comparediffuse.
defuse (third-person singular simple presentdefuses,present participledefusing,simple past and past participledefused)
- (obsolete) Todisorder; to makeshapeless.
c.1603–1606,William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene iv], line 2:If but as well I other accents borrow / That can my speechdefuse,
