mend fences
idiom
variants
or mend one's fences
: to improve or repair a relationship that has been damaged by an argument or disagreement
She mended fences with her father.
She and her father are trying to mend their fences.
After the election, he spent a lot of time mending political fences.
Examples of mend fences in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Biden recently sent a group of top advisers to Michigan, a battleground state with the second-largest number of Arab Americans in the nation, to mend fences with members of that community embittered by his handling of the war.
—
John Bacon, USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 2024
Both the administration and the Biden campaign have sent officials to Dearborn to try to begin to mend fences with the Arab American and Muslim community, though they have been met with protests as well.
—Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press, 19 Feb. 2024
The relief in the air is palpable and Republicans seem ready to mend fences.
—Siobhan Hughes, WSJ, 25 Oct. 2023
Efforts to mend fences—by Ronald Reagan in the context of the Iran-Contra scandal, Bill Clinton and Muhammad Khatami in 1997 in the tense aftermath of the Khobar attack, and Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani in 2015—have been unavailing.
—Steven Simon, Foreign Affairs, 13 Aug. 2018
Miranda, haunted by her horrible interaction with Che, is trying to mend fences.
—Aimée Lutkin, ELLE, 24 Aug. 2023
And that’s not because Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has done anything to mend fences with his international critics since his security officers allegedly lured Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 and killed him.
—Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 24 Aug. 2023
The kingdom is now on a mission to revamp its global image and mend fences with former foes.
—Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN, 3 May 2023
Despite waiving Trump-era sanctions on the Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline as an attempt to mend fences with Berlin, the Biden administration had long harbored concerns about Nord Stream and did not shed tears over its September demise.
—Souad Mekhennet, Washington Post, 6 June 2023
John Bacon, USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 2024
Both the administration and the Biden campaign have sent officials to Dearborn to try to begin to mend fences with the Arab American and Muslim community, though they have been met with protests as well.
—Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press, 19 Feb. 2024
The relief in the air is palpable and Republicans seem ready to mend fences.
—Siobhan Hughes, WSJ, 25 Oct. 2023
Efforts to mend fences—by Ronald Reagan in the context of the Iran-Contra scandal, Bill Clinton and Muhammad Khatami in 1997 in the tense aftermath of the Khobar attack, and Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani in 2015—have been unavailing.
—Steven Simon, Foreign Affairs, 13 Aug. 2018
Miranda, haunted by her horrible interaction with Che, is trying to mend fences.
—Aimée Lutkin, ELLE, 24 Aug. 2023
And that’s not because Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has done anything to mend fences with his international critics since his security officers allegedly lured Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 and killed him.
—Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 24 Aug. 2023
The kingdom is now on a mission to revamp its global image and mend fences with former foes.
—Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN, 3 May 2023
Despite waiving Trump-era sanctions on the Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline as an attempt to mend fences with Berlin, the Biden administration had long harbored concerns about Nord Stream and did not shed tears over its September demise.
—Souad Mekhennet, Washington Post, 6 June 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mend fences.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near mend fences
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“Mend fences.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mend%20fences. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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