What's the difference between defuse and placate?

Defuse


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To disorder; to make shapeless.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Barack Obama today phoned the white policeman he said had "acted stupidly" in arresting a black Harvard professor in his own home and invited the officer to visit the White House as the president attempted to defuse a growing race row over the incident.
  • (2) Moments later, Deputy Chief Tom Roberts, of Las Vegas Metro, defused the situation by delivering the announcement that Cliven Bundy's cattle would be returned within 30 minutes.
  • (3) Winning a global consensus would defuse the Russia versus the west stand-off and put Putin under huge moral and international pressure to agree.
  • (4) Church leaders in Kisumu, in the west of Kenya that was devastated five years ago, sought to defuse tension this time.
  • (5) All the parents … worry about their children because the kids need to go to school but safety and security … is a big concern.” The Nauruan government has made efforts to defuse local hostility.
  • (6) What came out instead was a substantive document, involving concrete steps towards defusing the crisis.
  • (7) After a week in which Obama has been accused of failing to deal openly with crises such as the the targeting of Tea Party activists by the Internal Revenue Service, the White House hope it can defuse concern over drones and Guantánamo by being more transparent about its objectives.
  • (8) But to defuse any possible tensions, the authorities had decided that the teams should mix together as they lined up and that the Marseillaise should be sung by Lââm, a young R&B singer of Franco-Tunisian extraction.
  • (9) And she attacked Chancellor George Osborne and Chief Whip Michael Gove for failing to use their "very, very close" relations with the Israeli Government to defuse the crisis.
  • (10) Three seasons in the media spotlight in Madrid have clearly done him no harm, and when a potentially mischievous question comes along about England temporarily transferring their support to Wales he defuses it politely and diplomatically.
  • (11) A month later the company offered to pay £10m a year in corporate taxes in Britain for two years as it sought to defuse mounting protests.
  • (12) Enemies dismiss its moderate image and claim it is no different from Shia hardliners such as Mushayma, who called for a republic to replace the Al Khalifa dynasty, launched a campaign of civil disobedience and destroyed a dialogue between the opposition and the reformist Crown Prince Salman that might – just – have defused the crisis.
  • (13) The code, introduced in February by the Association of British Bookmakers, was meant to tighten betting controls and defuse criticism of FOBTs, on which punters can bet up to £300 a minute.
  • (14) Ronald “ count me in as a rebel ” Reagan won the presidency in 1980, but his administration actually defused the movement with a plan to sell the land to private owners – owners who would not share grazing rights with the rebellious ranchers.
  • (15) My wife thinks I will come home one day in pieces in a box.” Hom had been defusing bombs, rockets and shells for five of his 20 years in the Gaza police.
  • (16) The health secretary moved to defuse widespread anger at his threat to impose new terms and conditions on them by offering two major concessions and assurances that they will not see their pay cut or working hours extended .
  • (17) He dismisses as "recycling" a pact announced by the prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault – a former Breton mayor – last month to defuse the red caps' protests, providing for €2m of investment in the region.
  • (18) The patient's behaviour secondary to the defusion is discussed from the point of view of social significance as well as potential dangerousness.
  • (19) In Beit Lahiya, he defused a 1,000kg bomb that had landed in a bike repair shop.
  • (20) On Wednesday, as Hom set out to defuse the 500kg bomb which killed him, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were continuing indirect talks in Cairo aimed at a putting a durable ceasefire in place.

Placate


Definition:

  • (n.) Same as Placard, 4 & 5.
  • (v. t.) To appease; to pacify; to concilate.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) His speech at the United Nations has been seen as a move to placate growing discontents in Palestinian society.
  • (2) Given a choice between placating the Freedom Caucus and placating Donald Trump, Ryan is wisely choosing self-preservation with the former.
  • (3) BT's £12.5bn EE takeover gets green light Read more The attempt to placate frustrated customers resulted in BT creating 1,000 jobs at UK call centres last year ; it plans double that number by April 2017.
  • (4) In the shorter term, however, the people who had to be placated were the international debt markets.
  • (5) David Cameron's announcement at the weekend to rush through the next stage of Help to Buy was also aimed at placating the middle classes, despite the risk of creating another housing bubble.
  • (6) Trinity Mirror attempted to placate investors in April with a new pay deal for Bailey that reduced her remuneration by about £500,000, but that failed to satisfy some major shareholders.
  • (7) In recent weeks, repeated efforts had been made to pare down and modify the legislation to placate the rebellious conservatives in the party.
  • (8) As it has edged ever closer to power, the party has launched a concerted campaign to reassure and placate creditors of its policies and intent.
  • (9) The IEA said the final budget could spiral further because of several factors, including: changing routes and carrying out more tunnelling to placate opposition groups; compensation for towns and cities bypassed by the line; and regeneration grants awarded along the line.
  • (10) However, costs such as extra tunnelling to placate opponents in London and the Chilterns have already meant extra money has been factored in.
  • (11) For the three million Greeks now facing poverty, placating creditors means much less than erasing the painful conditions attached to its bailouts.
  • (12) Europe's 17 single currency governments have agreed to deliver €500bn (£418bn) in bailout funds in the hope of erecting a firewall strong enough to contain the sovereign debt crisis, placate the markets and encourage non-eurozone International Monetary Fund (IMF) members to commit a similar sum to emergency reserves.
  • (13) The youths drifted away, peaceful but not placated.
  • (14) The strategy for the NSA and its Washington defenders for managing these changes is now clear: advocate their own largely meaningless reform to placate this growing sentiment while doing nothing to actually rein in the NSA's power.
  • (15) Nobody tells you how to placate the angry parents who think they’ve encountered the world’s frailest child-snatcher.
  • (16) He can't placate these protests as easily as he could when the JMP [the opposition coaliation] were leading them."
  • (17) If there is confusion on this basic point, no foreign government will trust that when a president purports to speak for our country he actually does.” Blinken attempted to placate several angry representatives who demanded Congress have more authority in the negotiations, saying the administration has “more than 200 meetings, calls, [and] briefings” with elected officials regarding the talks.
  • (18) King said a one-off increase, to placate critics in the financial markets, would be a "futile gesture"; but Sentance warned that the Bank would find itself "playing catch-up" if it failed to tighten policy rapidly.
  • (19) Which is why every family should have at least one … Facebook Twitter Pinterest Placator or Curmudgeon?
  • (20) In-tray Cutting the £163bn deficit and the debt mountain without hurting the economic recovery, the poor or British enterprise; sorting out bank regulation – both the rules and the structure; placating the City, which does not like his plan to abolish the Financial Services Authority.