DISARM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does disarm mean? 

• DISARM (verb)
  The verb DISARM has 3 senses:

1. remove offensive capability from

2. make less hostile; win over

3. take away the weapons from; render harmless

  Familiarity information: DISARM used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISARM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they disarm    ... he / she / it disarms   
Past simple: disarmed   
Past participle: disarmed   
-ing form: disarming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Remove offensive capability from

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

demilitarise; demilitarize; disarm

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Antonym:

arm (prepare oneself for a military confrontation)

Derivation:

disarmament; disarming (act of reducing or depriving of arms)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make less hostile; win over

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Context example:

Her charm disarmed the prosecution lawyer completely

Hypernyms (to "disarm" is one way to...):

convert; convince; win over (make (someone) agree, understand, or realize the truth or validity of something)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot disarm Sue

Sense 3

Meaning:

Take away the weapons from; render harmless

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

disarm; unarm

Hypernyms (to "disarm" is one way to...):

deprive; divest; strip (take away possessions from someone)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "disarm"):

demilitarise; demilitarize (do away with the military organization and potential of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

disarmament (act of reducing or depriving of arms)

disarmer (someone opposed to violence as a means of settling disputes)

disarming (act of reducing or depriving of arms)

 Context examples 

This suggests that cutting RIPK1, thereby disarming it, is crucial to controlling cell death and inflammation.

(Researchers discover new autoinflammatory disease and uncover its biological cause, National Institutes of Health)

Anti-inflammatory drugs quiet the immune system by disarming cytokines, a protein that is a major player in the body’s inflammatory response.

(Anti-inflammatory Drugs Also Fight Depression, Voanews)

Alleyne and Aylward sprang from their horses, and flew at the two sentries, who were disarmed and beaten down in an instant by so furious and unexpected an attack.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Please, please,” she pleaded, and she disarmed me by the words, as I was to discover they would ever disarm me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

You are endeavouring to disarm me by reason, and to convince me against my will.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

“Your humility, Mr. Bingley,” said Elizabeth, “must disarm reproof.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Gomez whipped out his knife, however, and but for the huge strength of his captor, which enabled him to disarm him with one hand, he would certainly have stabbed him.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sir Thomas gave up the point, foiled by her evasions, disarmed by her flattery; and was obliged to rest satisfied with the conviction that where the present pleasure of those she loved was at stake, her kindness did sometimes overpower her judgment.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

He said, “he had been very seriously considering my whole story, as far as it related both to myself and my country; that he looked upon us as a sort of animals, to whose share, by what accident he could not conjecture, some small pittance of reason had fallen, whereof we made no other use, than by its assistance, to aggravate our natural corruptions, and to acquire new ones, which nature had not given us; that we disarmed ourselves of the few abilities she had bestowed; had been very successful in multiplying our original wants, and seemed to spend our whole lives in vain endeavours to supply them by our own inventions; that, as to myself, it was manifest I had neither the strength nor agility of a common Yahoo; that I walked infirmly on my hinder feet; had found out a contrivance to make my claws of no use or defence, and to remove the hair from my chin, which was intended as a shelter from the sun and the weather: lastly, that I could neither run with speed, nor climb trees like my brethren,” as he called them, “the Yahoos in his country.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Still another time, he stole into the steerage, possessed himself of a loaded shot-gun, and was making a rush for the deck with it when caught by Kerfoot and disarmed.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)