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

Today's launch aims to smooth over a few rough patches that the vehicle ran into during V3's debut on the mostly successful Flight 12, which occurred on May 22. — Josh Dinner, Space.com, 16 July 2026

Lindsey Graham bridged divides in Congress Graham had become an effective tool to smooth over those differences. — Zachary Schermele, USA Today, 14 July 2026

The European Commission said in a public filing this month that Paramount has submitted concessions in a bid to smooth over concerns regarding the deal. — Lillian Rizzo, CNBC, 13 July 2026

Sevigny holds firm to Tatum’s hard-to-love jerkishness, which helps smooth over the serious arguments that can turn inadvertently silly (and amplifies the purely silly ones). — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 9 July 2026

Rhymes for smooth over

• carryover
• changeover
• crossover
• cutover
• flashover
• hangover
• holdover
• layover
• leftover
• makeover
• moreover
• passover