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

Oil analyst Andy Lipow said the release could help smooth over recent supply disruptions. — Steve Kopack, NBC news, 2 Oct. 2026

All gaps in time and momentum can be smoothed over by Laura Karpman’s lush and lavish score. — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 1 Oct. 2026

Rosa hybrid flower extract provides antioxidant and skin-conditioning benefits, while dimethicone seals in hydration and smooth over flaky patches. — Christa Joanna Lee, Allure, 18 Sep. 2026

If a third of that pool has smoothed over an age, downplayed a caregiving responsibility or held back an honest opinion online, that manager is working from an edited pool without knowing it. — Houman Akhavan, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2026

Rhymes for smooth over

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