unsharpen

Verb

unsharpen (third-person singular simple present unsharpens, present participle unsharpening, simple past and past participle unsharpened)

1. (transitive) To render unsharp; to spoil the sharpness of (something).
   • Thus, every product is branded with a legal marking, or a trademark respectively. In addition, as every product has a name, every product allows us to associate knowledge and meaning to this name. As the differentiation of products and brands unsharpens this distinction, we suggest the distinction...2006, Marius K. Lüdicke, A Theory of Marketing: Outline of a Social Systems Perspective, Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, →ISBN, page 84
   • That said, there is a curious solace in settling into a worldview by a writer who so refuses to unsharpen her vision, whose investment is in the clarity and freshness of the imagery and an honest portrayal of our craven impulses.2022 October 15, Aimee Bender, “In Robin McLean’s Stories, Life Is Tough but So Are the Living”, in The New York Times
2. (transitive) To undo a sharpening operation on (an image).
   • When it sharpens the image, you can't unsharpen it again without losing data.2012, Haje Jan Kamps, Focus on Travel Photography, page 91