détente means relaxing of tension, especially between countries; (countable) an instance of this. It carries an Arena rating of 1541, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, détente ranks #325 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #1,043 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,490 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #1,951 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
détente is pronounced /deɪˈtɑːnt/.
Why “détente” is a great word
A relaxation of strained relations or tensions, especially between nations. From French détente ("loosening, relaxing"), from Vulgar Latin *detendita, from Latin dētendō ("to relax"), from dē- ("from, away") + tendō ("to stretch"). First recorded in English use as a political term in 1908. Unlike "appeasement," which implies unilateral concession to an aggressor, or "armistice," a formal halt to fighting, détente is the mutual, often wary, decision to let the bowstring go slack. It is the slight, deliberate warming of a long-frozen handshake; the measured retreat from a fortified border to a neutral table; the palpable, shared exhale in a room thick with the memory of threats. It is not peace, but the fragile, necessary art of pausing the march toward war.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French détente (“loosening, relaxing”), from Latin *dētendita, a feminine singular participle of dētendō (“to relax”), from dē- (prefix meaning ‘from; of’) + tendō (“to stretch”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tend- (“to stretch”)).
noun
- Relaxing of tension, especially between countries; (countable) an instance of this.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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