Word.ws English Dictionary

defusing

defusing is the present participle and gerund 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 defusing

What is defusing the present participle and gerund of?
Defusing is the present participle and gerund of defuse.

Words near defusing in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: defusing (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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