What's the difference between defuse and relieve?

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.

Relieve


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To lift up; to raise again, as one who has fallen; to cause to rise.
  • (v. t.) To cause to seem to rise; to put in relief; to give prominence or conspicuousness to; to set off by contrast.
  • (v. t.) To raise up something in; to introduce a contrast or variety into; to remove the monotony or sameness of.
  • (v. t.) To raise or remove, as anything which depresses, weighs down, or crushes; to render less burdensome or afflicting; to alleviate; to abate; to mitigate; to lessen; as, to relieve pain; to relieve the wants of the poor.
  • (v. t.) To free, wholly or partly, from any burden, trial, evil, distress, or the like; to give ease, comfort, or consolation to; to give aid, help, or succor to; to support, strengthen, or deliver; as, to relieve a besieged town.
  • (v. t.) To release from a post, station, or duty; to put another in place of, or to take the place of, in the bearing of any burden, or discharge of any duty.
  • (v. t.) To ease of any imposition, burden, wrong, or oppression, by judicial or legislative interposition, as by the removal of a grievance, by indemnification for losses, or the like; to right.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) These results show that lipo-PGI2 at a very low dose would be beneficial as a treatment for relieving the clinical symptoms of chronic cerebral infarction and that lipid microspheres are a useful drug carrier for PGI2 analogue therapy.
  • (2) Current recommendations regarding contraception in patients with diabetes are not appropriate for the adolescent population and therefore tend to support this phenomenon rather than relieve it.
  • (3) In addition, the menisci increase the femorotibial contact area, thereby relieving some of the pressure.
  • (4) Arrhythmias were controlled without the need of drug therapy in 2 cases and the clinical symptoms were relieved in 1 case after shocks.
  • (5) Ultrasonic fragmentation through the pars plana is a quick and easy method for relieving the condition.
  • (6) The following examinations could be proposed: in high risk cases determined before pregnancy, a chorionic villus sampling should be done between the 9th and 11th weeks of gestation; in low risk cases such as advanced maternal age, a first trimester chorionic villus sampling or a second trimester amniocentesis could be chosen; in the case of Down's syndrome, warning signs, for example ultrasonographic or biological parameters, a second trimester placental biopsy to relieve the parents' anxiety; in high risk cases such as ultrasonographic malformations, late placental biopsy or cordocentesis.
  • (7) Pain relieved by antacids, age above 40 years, previous peptic ulcer disease, male sex, symptoms provoked by berries, and night pain relieved by antacids and food were found to predict organic dyspepsia with a sensitivity and specificity of approximately 70%, when applied on the observed material.
  • (8) In spite of this fundamental disagreement, they were both relieved that President Obama has suspended his plan to launch missiles against Syria .
  • (9) The procedure appears to relieve papilledema by filtering small quantities of cerebrospinal fluid into the orbit.
  • (10) In 2 cases, sublingual nitroglycerin failed to completely relieve the spasm.
  • (11) Euthanasia – killing someone painlessly, usually to relieve suffering – is also illegal.
  • (12) Symptoms were relieved following posterior decompression and fusion from L5 to S1.
  • (13) The austerity programmes administered by western governments in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis were, of course, intended as a remedy, a tough but necessary course of treatment to relieve the symptoms of debts and deficits and to cure recession.
  • (14) He had no business getting to that ball ahead of the full-back, who will be mightily relieved.
  • (15) Following this combination procedure the patients were relieved completely of obstructive jaundice and right upper quadrant pain, leaving only small trocar insertion scars made during the short course of hospitalization.
  • (16) The medicinal therapy of osteoarthritis is based on the use of analgesics, NSAIDs and corticosteroids to relieve pain and inflammation.
  • (17) The characteristic signs and symptoms represent the triad of a pulsatile mass in the upper part of the abdomen, intermittent hemorrhage in the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract and severe epigastralgia not relieved by antacids.
  • (18) Examination of the inhibitory effect of ATP using oligo(dA)12-18 as well as activated DNA as primers revealed that (a) ATP inhibition is not due to its addition onto a 3'-OH primer terminus ad judged by the lack of incorporation of labeled ATP, although under similar conditions incorporation of GTP can be demonstrated, (b) a consistent degree of inhibition was noted independent of primer or enzyme concentration; (c) addition of ATP to an ongoing reaction promptly reduces the rate of polymerization; (d) kinetic studies indicate a competitive (with respect to substrate deoxy triphosphate) pattern of inhibition; (e) addition of excess deoxyribotriphosphate promptly relieves the inhibition.
  • (19) The results suggest that the pantethine relieves the effect of dosed AL on the drug-metabolizing system in rat liver.
  • (20) "Richard only finished the music today," said Croall, who seemed deeply relieved that he'd made the deadline on Saturday.