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Glite Dictionary
🛡️ To make harmless 🐍 To remove fangs
to defang

to defang

2 7.9
To make a threat or criticism less powerful
  • verb
  • /dɪˈfæŋ/
translation icon : neutralizar
  • Naming your fear allows you to defang it in some interesting ways.
  • effectively defanged

One of the things they thought they could do was perhaps defang me.

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Examples

  • The new regulations are designed to defang the risks associated with financial investments for consumers.

  • He has co-opted the Tea Party, defanging the uncontrollable elements in it, marginalizing their leaders, and seizing their resources.

    Blog text (26)

  • We're talking about a bad actor who's aggressive and trying to defang that bad actor.

  • It is good to see the reactionary movement defanged.

    Blog text (6)

  • The Israelis were under no illusion that the 2008-09 conflict had defanged Hamas.

    Blog text (11)

  • Fortunately, here in MA, the anti-marriage movements (both anti-marriage-equality and anti-legal-marriage) have been defanged by marriage equality.

    Blog text (2)

  • The thing that Eddie can't seem to get through his thick skull is that crony capitalists would be defanged without the force of government to back them up.

    Blog text (3)

  • This is a role that traditional journalists aspire to play, but shrinking news budgets, accelerating news cycles, the native complexity of finance-related material, and the collusive game of access journalism have defanged the press.

    Blog text (13)

  • By addressing the criticisms directly, she was able to defang the opposition and move forward with her proposal.

  • The organization implemented new policies to defang the impact of negative media coverage on their reputation.

Synonyms

to deflect
vsto defang
76 4.6

To turn attention away from a person or thing

avoids impact rather than directly weakening or neutralizing the source
to impair
vsto defang
61 5.1

To make something worse or less able to work

lessens impact or power but may not fully remove harmful potential
to neutralize
vsto defang
39 5.6

To stop an action or effect by acting against it

reduces power or impact rather than directly canceling effects
to defuse
vsto defang
29 4.5

Make a tense or dangerous situation calmer

reduces harm or effectiveness rather than only calming emotions
to deflate
vsto defang
20 4.6

To make someone feel less confident or important

reduces perceived power or effect instead of physically removing force
to emasculate
vsto defang
10 8.8

To make something weaker or less effective

reduces power or effect but not always by humiliating or stripping status
to deescalate
vsto defang
2 4.8

To make an argument or conflict less serious and less dangerous

lowers harmful impact but not necessarily remove all danger
to defease
vsto defang
9.9

To stop someone from gaining power or success

removes power or success but does not focus on making harmless first

Antonyms

to strengthen
327 3.0

To make muscles, relationships, or groups stronger

to empower
157 4.2

Give someone the power and confidence to do something

How Harmless

to neutralize
39 5.6
to defang
2 7.9
to defuse
29 4.5
to mitigate
63 5.8
to soften
50 3.1

Surface Forms

defang infinitive
defanged past
defanged past participle
defanging present participle
defangs third person singular

Morphology

defang = fang (semi-transparent) = de + fang

The figurative sense 'make harmless' is a metaphorical extension of 'remove the fang' and requires an additional inferential step.

Etymology

Defang comes from the parts de- meaning 'remove' and fang meaning 'tooth'. A helpful way to remember the figurative meaning is to think of making something 'toothless' so it cannot 'bite', which is why to defang a threat or criticism is to make it harmless.