détente
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from French détente (“relaxing”).
Pronunciation edit
- (UK) IPA(key): /deɪˈtɒnt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (US) IPA(key): /deɪˈtɑnt/, /dɪˈtɑnt/
- Rhymes: -ɒnt
Noun edit
détente (plural détentes)
- (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[1]:
- No step the United States could take anywhere in the world would bring strategic benefits as great as detente with Iran.
Antonyms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
a relaxing of tension, especially between countries
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French edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Latin detenta or detendita, as a feminine past participle of detentus.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
détente f (plural détentes)
- relaxation, détente
- trigger (firearms)
- (sports) height to which one is able to jump
- (physics) expansion of a gas or a spring
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
Further reading edit
- “détente”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.