Disarm

How to spell disarm

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce disarm

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does disarm mean?

1. verbTo take weapons away from a person or force, or to reduce a country's military strength.
2. verbTo remove someone's suspicion, anger, or hostility, usually through warmth or charm.

Disarm in a sentence

• The officers moved quickly to disarm the suspect before backup arrived.

• Her easy humour could disarm even the most irritated customer.

• The treaty required both sides to disarm over a five-year period.

• A calm apology can quickly disarm a furious neighbour.

Where does disarm come from?

Language of origin: French

This verb comes from the Old French desarmer, which paired the reversing prefix des- with armer, meaning 'to arm' or 'to equip with weapons'. The armer element traces back to the Latin armare, from arma, the everyday Latin word for 'weapons' or 'tools of war'. English adopted the word in the late 1300s, originally with the literal sense of stripping a soldier or knight of weapons and armour. From there the meaning broadened in two directions: nations could 'disarm' by reducing their military forces, and a person could 'disarm' another by removing hostility or suspicion, as in a smile that puts someone at ease. The same arma root sits inside familiar words like 'army', 'armour', and 'armistice', which helps explain why the spelling keeps the plain word 'arm' intact after the prefix.

How the word is built

• dis- (remove, reverse)
• arm (weapons, from Latin arma)