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

Lander announced that due to technical difficulties and illness, the audience would have to wait a few days to see what shenanigans Barb got up to, and whether this birth would help her and her son, Jennifer’s brother John, smooth over their rocky relationship. —Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times, 4 May 2025

Still, there’s one thing Brit can’t smooth over: the gun comment. —Shelby Stewart, Essence, 7 Apr. 2025

That may be realistic—part of Margolin’s point is that these housemates would rather smooth over tension than face it—but that choice stalls things out dramatically. —Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 9 Mar. 2025

The inability to smooth over differences forced us to invent, adapt, and evolve. —Jason Snyder, Forbes.com, 27 Apr. 2025

Rhymes for smooth over

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