smooth over

phrasal 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 This all seems a bit unlikely—a moment of crisis smoothed over in order to give the couple that shippers call Polin an unequivocally happy ending. —

Judy Berman, TIME, 14 June 2024 Yet, leaps in technology and communication have smoothed over many of these bumps, allowing offshore teams to offer well-trained and properly overseen top-notch support. —

Tyler Shepherd, USA TODAY, 5 June 2024 Content by this author: The Biden-Bennett Honeymoon How long can the United States and Israel smooth over their disagreements? —

Amir Tibon, Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2024 Issues can be smoothed over as communicative Mercury conjoins careful Chiron at 11:23 am EDT. —

Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 15 Apr. 2024 Britain was attempting to smooth over a flap that arose over Foreign Secretary David Cameron’s recent pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago, former President Trump’s Florida resort. —

Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 14 May 2024 The moon’s harmonious connection to Jupiter smooths over drama and fosters supportive exchanges. —

USA TODAY, 4 May 2024 Numerous businesses say that, three months out, such disputes should have been long smoothed over. —

Jonathan Weisman, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2024 Google’s accommodations team is currently seeking employees to join a new working group to smooth over policies and procedures related to disabilities. —

Paresh Dave, WIRED, 7 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'smooth over.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.