disarm
to deprive of a weapon or weapons.
to remove the fuze or other actuating device from: to disarm a bomb.
to deprive of the means of attack or defense: The lack of logic disarmed his argument.
to divest or relieve of hostility, suspicion, etc.; win the affection or approval of; charm: His smile disarmed us.
to lay down one's weapons.
(of a country) to reduce or limit the size, equipment, armament, etc., of the army, navy, or air force.
Origin of disarm
1Other words from disarm
- dis·arm·er, noun
- un·dis·armed, adjective
Words Nearby disarm
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use disarm in a sentence
Released with the blessing of her son, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, it features a mix of the album he only discovered recently, featuring just her Wurlitzer organ accompaniment and a voice disarming in its immediacy.
Alice Coltrane is finally heralded as a jazz great. A new reissue doesn’t do her justice. | Andy Beta | July 9, 2021 | Washington PostThey may be disarming — literally — a predator in their midst.
Urchin mobs can literally dis-arm a predator | Jake Buehler | June 29, 2021 | Science News For StudentsI’m the guy trying to calmly disarm the situation before it gets worse.
By disarming our public safety response to nonviolent situations, we could disarm the prejudices of our communities.
To Protect the Next George Floyd, We Must Remove the Threat of Police Violence from Everyday Life | Phillip Atiba Goff | April 20, 2021 | TimeAnother way to disarm these thoughts is watch them pass by in your mind’s eye, as if they were leaves in a stream or drifting clouds.
How to keep your sadness from turning into depression | Jelena Kecmanovic | November 29, 2020 | Washington Post
The doctors promise that the initiative will “disarm the boundaries between psychiatry, humanities, and hip-hop culture.”
Hip-Hop Psychology: Using Music to Fight Mental Illness | Charlotte Lytton | November 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“Only the most out-of-touch radical would try to disarm soldiers,” he said in a statement Thursday.
The Ugliest, Creepiest Responses to the Fort Hood Shooting | Caitlin Dickson | April 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was deemed too risky to try to disarm or move those chemical munitions, according to these officials.
Obama’s Plan B for Securing Assad’s Chemical Weapons | Eli Lake | September 23, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTI entered as part of the invasion force sent to disarm Iraq.
America’s Lost Decade in Iraq: A Marine Officer Looks Back | Benjamin Busch | March 19, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTAt a time when North Korea threatens our allies with nuclear weapons, why would we want to unilaterally disarm our enemies?
It was with the utmost difficulty that his wiser subordinates got him to disarm the sepoy regiments in Agra itself.
The Red Year | Louis TracyThe soldiers were employed to disarm the people; but they had now advanced too far to be easily reduced.
Journal of a Voyage to Brazil | Maria GrahamIt was but a little while afterward that the Legislature passed a law to disarm all the Union men of the State.
Portrait and Biography of Parson Brownlow, The Tennessee Patriot | William Gannaway BrownlowBut, notwithstanding all this, their rule was brief; they were unable to disarm the spirit of hostility.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. | E. Farr and E. H. NolanIt is a far better and braver thing to bear bullying with such a mixture of spirit and good-humour, as in time to disarm it.
Eric, or Little by Little | Frederic W. Farrar
British Dictionary definitions for disarm
/ (dɪsˈɑːm) /
(tr) to remove defensive or offensive capability from (a country, army, etc)
(tr) to deprive of weapons
(tr) to remove the triggering device of (a bomb, shell, etc)
(tr) to win the confidence or affection of
(intr) (of a nation, etc) to decrease the size and capability of one's armed forces
(intr) to lay down weapons
Derived forms of disarm
- disarmer, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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