smooth over
verb
smoothed over; smoothing over; smooths over also smoothes over
: to make (a disagreement, problem, difficulty, etc.) seem less serious than it really is
Don't worry about missing the application deadline—we'll smooth that over with the office.
She smoothed over the objections to his candidacy.
Examples of smooth over in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
McCarthy spent weeks with private throwing coach John Beck to smooth over some of these issues.
—
Alec Lewis, New York Times, 22 May 2026
China, for its part, is happy to encourage French ambitions and smooth over points of contention.
—Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes.com, 22 May 2026
No more bulbous, nautical EQS shapes or minorly smoothed over boxy G-Wagen aesthetic.
—ArsTechnica, 20 May 2026
Rather than focusing on a single area of expertise, Bleak Week anchors itself in a refusal to smooth over the universal experience of feeling, well, shitty.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 4 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for smooth over
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Alec Lewis, New York Times, 22 May 2026
China, for its part, is happy to encourage French ambitions and smooth over points of contention.
—Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes.com, 22 May 2026
No more bulbous, nautical EQS shapes or minorly smoothed over boxy G-Wagen aesthetic.
—ArsTechnica, 20 May 2026
Rather than focusing on a single area of expertise, Bleak Week anchors itself in a refusal to smooth over the universal experience of feeling, well, shitty.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 4 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for smooth over
Cite this Entry
“Smooth over.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smooth%20over. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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