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

The unrefined nature keeps some ideas from feeling fleshed out, but Veeze’s personality and precise execution smooth over the rough edges. —Matthew Ritchie, Pitchfork, 2 June 2026

During a heated conference meeting, Senate Republicans expressed consternation over the fund to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who had been deployed to smooth over GOP concerns. —Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 1 June 2026

And Snead and McVay did a ton of interviews to try to smooth over what appeared to be a delicate and controversial situation. —Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 1 June 2026

McCarthy spent weeks with private throwing coach John Beck to smooth over some of these issues. —Alec Lewis, New York Times, 22 May 2026

Rhymes for smooth over

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