calm down
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb (intransitive):
- To become less agitated, excited, angry, or intense; to return to a peaceful or normal state after a period of disturbance.
- Verb (transitive):
- To cause someone or something to become less agitated, excited, angry, or intense; to soothe or pacify.
Usage and Examples
- Intransitive (to become calm):
- Please calm down and tell me what happened.
- The wind finally calmed down after the storm.
- Transitive (to make someone/something calm):
- She tried to calm down the frightened child.
- I need a minute to calm my nerves down.
Advanced Usage
- Imperative Use: Often used as a direct instruction or piece of advice.
- Calm down! It's not as bad as it seems.
- Reflexive Use: Can imply making oneself calm.
- He went for a walk to calm himself down.
Variants and Related Words
- Calm (adj/verb): The base form. As a verb, it is synonymous with 'calm down' (e.g., ).
- Settle down (phrasal verb): Often used interchangeably in the intransitive sense of becoming calm or establishing order.
- Cool off (phrasal verb): Specifically implies reducing anger or agitation.
Synonyms
- Soothe (transitive): To gently calm.
- Pacify (transitive): To bring peace to, often by satisfying demands.
- Quiet (down) (intransitive/transitive): To become or make quiet.
- Relax (intransitive/transitive): To become or make less tense.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Settle down: To become calm, quiet, or orderly; also to adopt a stable lifestyle.
- The class took a long time to settle down after the fire drill.
- Cool down/off: To become less angry, hot, or excited.
- You should cool off before you send that email.
Related Idioms
- Take a chill pill: (Slang, imperative) A humorous way to tell someone to calm down.
- Dude, take a chill pill; everything's under control.
- Keep one's cool: To remain calm in a difficult situation.
- Despite the pressure, she kept her cool.
Verb
- become quiet or less intensive
- the fighting lulled for a moment
- make calm or still
- quiet the dragons of worry and fear
- become quiet or calm, especially after a state of agitation
- After the fight both men need to cool off.
- It took a while after the baby was born for things to settle down again.