disarm
/dɪsˈɑːm
/verb [with object]
1Take a weapon or weapons away from (a person, force, or country): guerrillas had completely disarmed their forces...
- At conflict termination, those forces would be disarmed, demobilized, and restructured as part of a broader transformation from war to peace.
- He not only occupied central and southern Italy with exemplary speed, but ruthlessly disarmed the Italian forces and contained the Allied landing at Salerno.
- Regime change as a ‘morally desirable side-effect’ of disarming an aggressor is consistent with the Just War ethic.
Synonyms
deprive of arms, take weapons from, render defenceless, make powerless;
demilitarize, demobilize
1.1 [no object] (Of a country or force) give up or reduce its armed forces or weapons: the other militias had disarmed by the agreed deadline...
- Politically, Japan can also be effective by providing a peacekeeping force not only for monitoring purposes but to help the country disarm, she said.
- We have demanded that a country disarm - and even as it is doing so, we say it doesn't matter, it's too late, we're coming in.
- Second, all private militias were told to disarm and cede their urban responsibilities to the police and the ICDC.
Synonyms
lay down arms/weapons, demilitarize, turn over weapons, decommission arms/weapons, become unarmed
literary sheathe the sword, turn swords into ploughshares
1.2Remove the fuse from (a bomb), making it safe: police yesterday disarmed a parcel bomb...
- As an article in the New York Times reports, the crucial point is that the Israelis are able to disarm their human bombs because they have prior intelligence.
- An American soldier was killed when he tried to disarm a roadside bomb that had been attached to a telephone pole.
- On the letter bomb front, army bomb disposal experts were called on to disarm a letter bomb sent to an unnamed agricultural business and a farm.
Synonyms
defuse, disable, deactivate, remove the fuse from, put out of action;
make safe, make harmless
2Allay the hostility or suspicions of: his tact and political skills will disarm critics...
- He's bright, amusing and just vulnerable enough to disarm critics.
- Many actually planned and encouraged terroristic crimes so as to disarm suspicion and, in some cases, help their careers.
- Furthermore, the man is honest to a fault and disarms any critics by agreeing with them.
Synonyms
win over, charm, undermine someone's resistance, sweeten;
persuade, convert;
mollify, appease, placate, pacify, conciliate, humour, propitiate
2.1Deprive of the power to hurt: camp humour acts to provoke rather than disarm moral indignation...
- Countervailing these reactions there is one other, and I think it is an emotion, a sensation rather, that entirely disarms these impurer thoughts and provides the surest signal one has encountered authentic art.
- I think Mr Gageler rather disarms your argument on that because he accepted that you could not by contrived insertions lift the matter up into the constitutional protection if it was not otherwise there.
- It disarms criticism, obscures realities, and prejudges results.
noun [in singular] Fencing
An act of taking a weapon away from someone: a well-executed disarm...
- The rules are as follows: We play until the disarm and trap of an opponent.
- Allen went for a disarm, tapping the back of Jacob's hand before leading the blade in a sharp angle.
- There was time for him at the moment to realize he was about a foot too far away to attempt a disarm.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French desarmer.