decompressing

Verb

decompress (third-person singular simple present decompresses, present participle decompressing, simple past and past participle decompressed)

1. (transitive) To relieve the pressure or compression on something.
2. (transitive) To bring someone (such as a diver) back to normal atmospheric pressure after being exposed to high pressure.
3. (transitive) To restore (compressed data) to its original form.

   Synonyms:

   unzip, uncompress

4. (intransitive) To adjust to normal atmospheric pressure after being exposed to high pressure.
   • The bad news is we got eight hours in this can blowin' down… And the worse news is, it's gonna take us three weeks to decompress later.1989, James Cameron, The Abyss (motion picture), spoken by Lindsey Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio)
5. (informal, intransitive) To relax.
   • [T]he idea began before lockdown, when he went on holiday to Thailand to decompress from the pressures of life in the music industry.2025 August 10, Shaad D'Souza, “‘I didn’t realise pigs were like, massive’: the London rapper who fell in love with farming”, in The Guardian