détente

See also: detente and detenté

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French détente (relaxing).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /deɪˈtɒnt/
    • (file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /deɪˈtɑnt/, /dɪˈtɑnt/
  • Rhymes: -ɒnt

Noun

détente (plural détentes)

  1. (chiefly politics) A relaxing of tension, especially between countries.
    • 2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 318:
      Analogous structural and political constraints stood in the way of a lasting détente between Germany and Britain.
    • 2014 January 14, Stephen Kinzer, “Invading Iraq was dumb enough. Now Congress wants to derail the Iran deal”, in The Guardian:
      No step the United States could take anywhere in the world would bring strategic benefits as great as detente with Iran.

Antonyms

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin detenta or detendita, as a feminine past participle of detentus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /de.tɑ̃t/
  • (file)

Noun

détente f (plural détentes)

  1. relaxation, détente
  2. trigger (firearms)
  3. (sports) height to which one is able to jump
  4. (physics) expansion of a gas or a spring

Derived terms

Descendants

  • English: détente, detent

Further reading

Anagrams

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