détente

noun

dé·​tente dā-ˈtänt 

variants or detente

1

: the relaxation of strained relations or tensions (as between nations)

diplomats brokering a détente

also : a policy promoting this

2

: a period of détente

the beginning of a détente

Example Sentences

as the countries move toward détente

the start of a détente

Recent Examples on the Web

There’s detente with Belichick in a relationship that was always full of mutual respect but never personally warm and fuzzy. —Christopher L. Gasper, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Feb. 2023

In Arizona, a Joe Biden voter found political detente with his Republican wife as the lingering effects of infection continue to cause them pain. —Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2020

China’s brokering of a detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia accelerates a geopolitical realignment in the Middle East, as rivalries that erupted during the Arab Spring fade and outside powers besides the U.S. vie for influence. —Austin Ramzy, WSJ, 11 Mar. 2023

Squabbles over who has the right to live — and where — escalate into outright battles, as the hominins strive to find a detente with the ancient community. —Mark Athitakis, Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2023

Although few hoped for a significant detente, Blinken’s visit would have been the first in five years by America’s top diplomat to China and would have helped capitalize on a meeting between President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in November. —Christian Shepherd, Washington Post, 6 Feb. 2023

Is this a new cultural detente? —David Oliver, USA TODAY, 7 Mar. 2023

The deployment was delayed multiple times, but the telecoms, the FAA and FCC appeared to have reached a temporary detente, with Verizon and AT&T agreeing not to deploy in areas close to airports and putting a series of mitigations in for at least six months. —Jessica Wehrman, Anchorage Daily News, 5 Feb. 2022

CNN)Seventy years ago this week, hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops began crossing into North Korea, in an intervention that would turn the tide of the conflict on the Korean Peninsula and eventually hold United Nations forces to an uneasy detente. —James Griffiths, CNN, 22 Oct. 2020

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Word History

Etymology

French

First Known Use

1908, in the meaning defined at sense 1