smooth over

phrasal verb

smoothed over; smoothing over; smooths over also smoothes over

: to make (a disagreement, problem, difficulty, etc.) seem less serious than it really is

Don't worry about missing the application deadline—we'll smooth that over with the office.

She smoothed over the objections to his candidacy.

Examples of smooth over in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The tech icon sought to smooth over rough edges with GOP senators last week during a private meeting about his role in slashing federal workers and government spending. —Ramsey Touchberry, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 12 Mar. 2025

At a time when labor organizing was a especially menacing to bosses, early ancestors of today’s soft skills were meant to smooth over workplace frictions, gliding past class conflict. —Lily Scherlis, Harper's Magazine, 28 Feb. 2025

Recently, intermediaries for Mr. Cuomo have tried to set up a conversation with Ms. Hochul to smooth over tensions between them, according to two people familiar with the outreach who were not authorized to discuss it. —Nicholas Fandos, New York Times, 25 Feb. 2025

Use a gentle exfoliant to smooth over any dry patches (Cheng likes Glossier’s new Cleanser Concentrate) and a good moisturizer. —Bella Cacciatore, Glamour, 14 Mar. 2025

Rhymes for smooth over

• carryover
• changeover
• crossover
• cutover
• flashover
• hangover
• holdover
• layover
• leftover
• makeover
• moreover
• passover