How to Use de-escalate in a Sentence

de-escalate

verb
  • Their goals are to de-escalate and get people help.
    — Zach Boetto, CBS News, 27 Mar. 2026
  • World leaders made urgent calls to de-escalate and avoid all-out war.
    — Jon Gambrell, Los Angeles Times, 14 June 2025
  • Suarez said the city would work with the group to de-escalate any conflicting dates.
    — Emily Goodin, Miami Herald, 5 Sep. 2025
  • Training tells you to de-escalate.
    — Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 30 Jan. 2026
  • Instead, step away and de-escalate.
    — Chris John Amorosino, Hartford Courant, 16 Apr. 2026
  • Feeling heard helps them de-escalate the anger of defending a point of view.
    — Ann Kowal Smith, Forbes, 13 Nov. 2023
  • Feeling heard helps them de-escalate the anger of defending a point of view.
    — Ann Kowal Smith, Forbes, 12 Oct. 2024
  • But when at least one party is willing to wreck things, attempts to de-escalate fail.
    — Michael S. Roth, Time, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Trump and Xi struck a deal to de-escalate the trade war and these controls are set to be rolled back.
    — Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 31 Oct. 2025
  • On the edge of the scrum, a counter-protester was trying to de-escalate.
    — Ruby Cramer, New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2026
  • Both nations have huge incentives to work out a deal that could at least de-escalate the trade war.
    — Bob Davis, Time, 12 Apr. 2025
  • One is to ignore it, another is to respond and try to de-escalate.
    — Peter Suciu, Forbes.com, 21 May 2025
  • Step away and de-escalate if possible.
    — Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Step away and de-escalate if possible.
    — Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 30 Jan. 2026
  • Step away and de-escalate if possible.
    — Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Step away and de-escalate if possible.
    — Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 13 Oct. 2025
  • To de-escalate, Wesley offered to buy the man and the younger woman a beer and talk things over.
    — Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
  • Tensions had simmered over the summer when the two countries agreed to de-escalate.
    — Deepa Shivaram, NPR, 25 Oct. 2025
  • Many world leaders called for the US to de-escalate; a few condemned the strikes.
    — Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, 22 June 2025
  • Bunge argued that the two men failed to de-escalate the situation.
    — Kiara Alfonseca, ABC News, 5 Jan. 2024
  • And the Sheriff's deputies de-escalated that and broke that down very quickly.
    — Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 25 Aug. 2023
  • Jones added that the situation could not have de-escalated when a weapon was drawn by the driver.
    — Nicole Lopez, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Feb. 2024
  • When faced with the risk of a spiraling conflict, rivals often find off-ramps to de-escalate crises.
    — Erik Lin-Greenberg, Foreign Affairs, 8 Oct. 2024
  • Unless the trade war de-escalates in the next few weeks, the firewall will come down, and a recession will ensue.
    — Giulia Carbonaro, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 May 2025
  • Neither side would de-escalate, but neither side seemed willing to take everyone over the brink.
    — Elliot Ackerman, WIRED, 12 Feb. 2024
  • Diplomatic doors remain open—but only if both parties agree to de-escalate.
    — Amir Daftari, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Aug. 2025
  • This is really just trying to roll back or de-escalate what had been escalated over the past year and a bit.
    — CBS News, 25 Jan. 2026
  • Officers tried to de-escalate the situation for more than an hour.
    — Katie Langford, Denver Post, 8 Apr. 2026
  • Marcello tries to de-escalate the confrontation while Lenù looks on, scared.
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 28 Oct. 2024
  • In the process, a policy intended to de-escalate will serve only to appease.
    — Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'de-escalate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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