détente

détente

See also: detente and detenté

English

Alternative forms

• detente

Etymology

Borrowed from French détente (“relaxing”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /deɪˈtɒnt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /deɪˈtɑnt/
• 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 January 14, Stephen Kinzer, “Invading Iraq was dumb enough. Now Congress wants to derail the Iran deal”, in The Guardian‎:

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

Antonyms

• rollback/regime change
• containment

Related terms

• detent

Translations

a relaxing of tension, especially between countries

Belarusian: разра́дка f (razrádka) Chinese: Mandarin: 緩和政策, 緩和政策 (huǎnhé zhèngcè) Finnish: liennytys (fi) French: détente (fr) f German: Entspannungspolitik (de) f Hebrew: דטאנט‎ Japanese: デタント (detanto) Korean: 데탕트 (detangteu) Malay: detente Russian: разря́дка (ru) f (razrjádka) Spanish: detente (es) m Swedish: avspänning (sv) c, détente (sv) c Turkish: detant (tr) Ukrainian: розря́дка f (rozrjádka)

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French

Etymology

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

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

Derived terms

• long à la détente
• presser la détente

Related terms

• détendre

Descendants

• → English: détente, → detent

Further reading

• “détente”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• endette, endetté