disarm

/dɪsˈɑrm/

/dɪsˈɑm/

Other forms: disarmed; disarming; disarms

When you disarm someone, you take their weapons away from them. An archery instructor might, for example, disarm a student if he wasn't handling his bow and arrow carefully.

To disarm is to remove a gun, knife — or any kind of weapon — from someone's hands, or from a group of people. A government might work to disarm a rebel group, for example, and police officers sometimes offer to pay money for guns in an attempt to disarm citizens. You can also use the verb to mean "win someone over," like when you disarm a cranky store cashier with your friendly smile. Disarm has an Old French root word, desarmer.

Definitions of disarm

1. verb

   take away the weapons from; render harmless
   synonyms: unarm

   types:

   demilitarise, demilitarize

   do away with the military organization and potential of

   neutralise, neutralize

   make incapable of military action

   type of:

   deprive, divest, strip

   take away possessions from someone
2. verb

   remove offensive capability from
   synonyms: demilitarise, demilitarize

   antonyms:

   arm

   prepare oneself for a military confrontation
3. verb

   defuse or make harmless; deactivate
   type of:

   deactivate, inactivate

   make inactive
4. verb

   make less hostile; win over
   “Her charm disarmed the prosecution lawyer completely”

   type of:

   convert, convince, win over

   make (someone) agree, understand, or realize the truth or validity of something