defuse

1. (transitive) To remove the fuse from (e.g. a bomb).Examples: "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?"transitive

2. (transitive, figurative) To make less dangerous, tense, or hostile.Examples: "to defuse a hostage situation"; "In recent months, those tactics have come to include defensive maneuvers aimed at defusing the media counteroperations of the United States and its allies."; "As a result of the Santiago Principles and other parallel efforts at education such as the SWF scoreboard that I have featured in my research, a substantial amount of distrust surrounding SWFs has been defused."figurativelytransitive