How to Use de-escalate in a Sentence
de-escalate
verb-
To de-escalate, Wesley offered to buy the man and the younger woman a beer and talk things over.
—Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
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To de-escalate, Wesley offered to buy the man and the younger woman a beer and talk things over.
—Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
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And so the work to de-escalate is work that is ongoing.
—Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 12 May 2024
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All the while, the White House insists Israel and Hezbollah still have time to step back and de-escalate.
—Aamer Madhani, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2024
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The attack was the biggest since March 2020, when Russia and Turkey agreed to a deal to de-escalate the conflict.
—Maya Gebeily, USA TODAY, 29 Nov. 2024
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Feeling heard helps them de-escalate the anger of defending a point of view.
—Ann Kowal Smith, Forbes, 13 Nov. 2023
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Feeling heard helps them de-escalate the anger of defending a point of view.
—Ann Kowal Smith, Forbes, 12 Oct. 2024
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And the Sheriff's deputies de-escalated that and broke that down very quickly.
—Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 25 Aug. 2023
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But when at least one party is willing to wreck things, attempts to de-escalate fail.
—Michael S. Roth, Time, 28 Mar. 2025
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Bunge argued that the two men failed to de-escalate the situation.
—Kiara Alfonseca, ABC News, 5 Jan. 2024
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Jones added that the situation could not have de-escalated when a weapon was drawn by the driver.
—Nicole Lopez, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Feb. 2024
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Wood told the council that the U.S. aims to de-escalate the situation but that Iran's actions cannot go unanswered.
—NBC News, 15 Apr. 2024
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Steve is one of the first men to step in, sensing that things are spiraling, as the ladies scramble to de-escalate the situation.
—Shelby Stewart, Essence, 18 Feb. 2025
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When faced with the risk of a spiraling conflict, rivals often find off-ramps to de-escalate crises.
—Erik Lin-Greenberg, Foreign Affairs, 8 Oct. 2024
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The police attempted to de-escalate the scene by first ordering him to drop his lethal weapon, then employing a taser and the threat of a police dog.
—U T Opinion, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Feb. 2025
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The officers were aggressive from the start and did not attempt to de-escalate the situation, the suit claims.
—Alex Riggins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Mar. 2023
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Starmer said in his own statement that he was deeply concerned by the situation in the region and called on all parties to de-escalate.
—Greg Norman, Fox News, 13 Aug. 2024
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As Carson tried to de-escalate the situation, the suspect swung a knife at him, Kenny said.
—Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 4 Oct. 2023
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Blinken stressed the need to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank and expressed his sympathies for Thursday's attack in Jerusalem that killed three civilians.
—Vivian Salama, WSJ, 30 Nov. 2023
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The move is part of the rebels' ongoing effort to de-escalate tensions following a ceasefire in Gaza.
—Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 25 Jan. 2025
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Marcello tries to de-escalate the confrontation while Lenù looks on, scared.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 28 Oct. 2024
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But the official said the parties also discussed how to de-escalate the fighting in the more likely scenario at the moment of no Gaza ceasefire deal in the near term.
—Barak Ravid, Axios, 4 Sep. 2024
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Neither side would de-escalate, but neither side seemed willing to take everyone over the brink.
—Elliot Ackerman, WIRED, 12 Feb. 2024
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Why had the officers not tried to de-escalate the situation?
—Tim Arango, New York Times, 8 June 2023
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For months, that response never came and tensions appeared to de-escalate given the grave consequences of an all-out war in the Middle East.
—Helen Regan, CNN, 2 Oct. 2024
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As the dispute grew heated, the deli worker stepped between his feuding customers in an effort to de-escalate the fight, only for the suspect to spit in the victim’s face.
—Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 3 Jan. 2025
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In the process, a policy intended to de-escalate will serve only to appease.
—Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
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The witnesses added that Sibley tried to de-escalate the situation before he was stabbed in the torso.
—Matt Lavietes, NBC News, 2 Aug. 2023
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Gary Police tried to speak to the man through a back door, trying to de-escalate the situation, but the man shot through the door four times in the direction of officers, the release stated.
—Post-Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 11 Apr. 2025
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Without guardrails, red lines or a strategy to de-escalate, further conflict remains in the cards.
—Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2024
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'de-escalate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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