détente

Alternative forms

• detente

Etymology

Borrowed from French détente (“relaxing”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /deɪˈtɒnt/
• Rhymes: -ɒnt

Noun

détente (plural détentes)

1. (chiefly politics) A relaxing of tension, especially between countries.
   • 2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin 2013, p. 318:

     Analogous structural and political constraints stood in the way of a lasting détente between Germany and Britain.

   • 2014, The Guardian, 14 Jan 2014:

     No step the United States could take anywhere in the world would bring strategic benefits as great as detente with Iran.

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de.tɑ̃t/

• Audio

  (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

Further reading

• “détente” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• endette, endetté