take the edge off

SEE SYNONYMS FOR take the edge off ON THESAURUS.COM

Ease or assuage, make less severe, as in That snack took the edge off our hunger, or Her kind manner took the edge off her refusal. This term alludes to blunting the edge of a cutting instrument. Shakespeare used it figuratively in The Tempest (4:1): “To take away the edge of that day's celebration.” The precise wording of the idiom dates from the first half of the 1900s.

Words nearby take the edge off

take the bit in one's mouth, take the bitter with the sweet, take the bread out of someone's mouth, take the bull by the horns, take the cake, take the edge off, take the fall, take the field, take the fifth, take the floor, take the heat

Words related to take the edge off

mitigate, dilute, erode, slacken, minimize, ease, shrink, impair, dwindle, decrease, abate, narrow, diminish, curtail, lighten, weaken, dull, lessen, relieve, reduce