Word.ws English Dictionary

defuses

defuses is the third-person singular simple present indicative of defuse.

Meaning of defuse

Verb (1)

defuse (third-person singular simple present defuses, present participle defusing, simple past and past participle defused)

  1. (transitive) To remove the fuse from (e.g. a bomb).
    • Shepard: I wear a lot of hats, Mr. Vargas. Some days I shut down criminals. Some days I defuse nukes. Some days I like to enjoy private vices. You understand me?2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Noveria
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To make less dangerous, tense, or hostile.
    • The diplomats are trying to defuse the escalating crisis.
    Synonyms:
    de-escalate

Verb (2)

defuse (third-person singular simple present defuses, present participle defusing, simple past and past participle defused)

  1. (obsolete) To disorder; to make shapeless.
    • If but as well I other accents borrow / That can my speech defuse,c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

Questions about defuses

What is defuses the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Defuses is the third-person singular simple present indicative of defuse.

Words near defuses in the dictionary

  1. defusals
  2. defuse
  3. defused
  4. defuser
  5. defusers
  6. defuses
  7. defusing
  8. defusion
  9. defusions
  10. defusive
  11. defuze

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: defuses (page history and authors); defuse (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “defuses.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/defuses. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.