defang
verb
de·fang
| \ (ˌ)dē-ˈfaŋ
\
\
defanged;
defanging;
defangs
Definition of defang
: to make harmless or less powerful
Examples of defang in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Over the years, however, federal judges have crafted a series of judicial exceptions that defang lawsuits against police officers, prison officials, and other government officials accused of wrongdoing. — Matt Ford, The New Republic, "Biden’s Big, Obvious Ideas for Criminal-Justice Reform," 24 July 2019 But the case also defanged much of the research on video-game violence. — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, "Video-Game Violence Is Now a Partisan Issue," 5 Aug. 2019 The ability of Incognito/Private/InPrivate mode in various browsers to defang such tracking is another larger question. — Jim Salter, Ars Technica, "How private is your browser’s Private mode? Research into porn suggests “not very”," 19 July 2019 For months now, Pelosi and co’s attitude was to wait for the Mueller Report, which came and went and was largely defanged by the Trump lackey Attorney General Bill Barr. — Michael Arceneaux, Essence, "Opinion: Will Nancy Pelosi Finally Do Something About Donald Trump’s Abuse Of Power?," 25 July 2019 What such an accord would mean for graffiti, an art form that has increasingly been defanged, coopted, and commodified, remains an open question. — Daisy Alioto, The New Republic, "How Graffiti Became Gentrified," 19 June 2019 But regulators managed to defang the wolves, never giving them a chance. — The Economist, "Foreign financiers look past the trade war and ramp up in China," 4 July 2019 Kim wants relief from international sanctions; the White House wants to defang North Korea’s nuclear program. — Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, "Trump’s reality show takes over U.S. foreign policy," 1 July 2019 That kind of disregard for the law defangs it in a big way, Marsco said. — The Washington Post, The Mercury News, "Analysis: What is the Hatch Act, and how did Kellyanne Conway violate it?," 13 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'defang.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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