defang
defang Lexical Profile
defang Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To render harmless, ineffective, or less threatening by removing the power to cause injury or disruption.
"The committee added several amendments that effectively defanged the proposed regulatory bill."
To remove the fangs from (a venomous snake or other animal).
"Responsible wildlife sanctuaries strictly prohibit the cruel practice of defanging captive cobras for public exhibitions."
To modify the characters of a potentially malicious URL, IP address, or email link in a security report so that a user cannot accidentally click and activate it (in cybersecurity).
"Before sharing the phishing report with the team, the analyst defanged all suspicious links by replacing the periods with bracketed dots."
• Rhymes for defang
Word Origin & Etymology
First recorded in the mid-19th century, formed in English from the privative prefix de- and fang (from Old English fang, meaning 'that which is caught' or 'booty', later referring to a seizing tooth).