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cool down

phrasal verb

Formscools down, cooling down, cooled down

5 meanings of cool down

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  1. 1
    phrasal verbintransitive
    Of a person or a situation, to become calmer and less agitated or excited.

    Let's talk about this tomorrow, once everyone has had a chance to cool down.

    Tempers along the border cooled down after the two sides agreed to a ceasefire.

    Similarrelax, subside

  2. 2
    phrasal verbintransitive
    To become cooler; to drop in temperature.

    Leave the cake in the pan until it has cooled down completely.

    The engine needs about twenty minutes to cool down after a long drive.

    Oppositewarm

  3. 3
    phrasal verbtransitive
    To make something cooler; to lower its temperature.

    Two fans inside the case cool down the processor while it runs.

    She held the burned finger under cold water to cool it down.

    Oppositewarm, heat

    Note

    A noun object can stand on either side of down: cool down the engine, cool the engine down. A pronoun has to go in the middle, so it is cool it down, never cool down it. The same placement holds when the verb means calming a person: you cool him down, not cool down him.

  4. 4
    phrasal verbtransitive
    To make someone calmer, less agitated or less excited.

    A few jokes from the host cooled the audience down after the heated debate.

    The manager stepped in to cool down two employees who were shouting at each other.

    Similarcalm, soothe, pacify, placate

    Oppositeagitate, provoke, inflame

  5. 5
    phrasal verbintransitive
    To lessen in degree or intensity.

    Inflation cooled down in the spring after months of steep rises.

    Interest in the app began to cool down once the novelty wore off.

    Similarease, slow, moderate, wane, subside

    Oppositeintensify

    Note

    Here the cooling is figurative, and what cools is usually something that had been running hot: prices, demand, a market, the excitement around a fad. A hedge such as slightly fits it well, because easing rather than stopping is the point, as when gas prices "cooled down slightly" in April 2022 after soaring the month before.

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