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

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

The new Fed leadership may eventually smooth over the messaging, but the underlying data disagreements won't disappear. — Ivan Illan, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026

A day later, Paramount offered concessions in a bid to smooth over European Commission concerns. — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 3 July 2026

The world of Pride and Prejudice expects women to accommodate male pride as a social fact, to smooth over awkwardness, to accept that status and wealth compensate for coldness or indifference. — Literary Hub, 29 June 2026

Rhymes for smooth over

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