clear the air

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English

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Pronunciation

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  • Audio (US):(file)

Verb

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clear the air (third-person singular simple present clears the air, present participle clearing the air, simple past and past participle cleared the air)

  1. (idiomatic) To assuage a hostile or uncomfortable situation.
    Antonym: add fuel to the fire
    • 1976 August 7, Kathy Guilmette, “Devil's Advocate”, in Gay Community News, page 4:
      After much bitter in-fighting over the issue of the BF and other issues, I felt it was time to clear the air rather than deal in back-biting.
    • 2014, David Judson, Are You Attackable?: Embracing God During the Battles In Life:
      This relationship began when you went to the Father and cleared the air by asking Him to forgive your past mistakes and sins.
    • 2023 December 23, “Blind date: ‘He said he’d like to marry me’”, in The Guardian[1], →ISSN:
      Good table manners?
      Yep. He cleared the air by expressing his nervousness about using chopsticks.

Translations

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See also

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