What does detente mean?
Détente (a French word meaning release from tension) is the name given to a period of improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union that began tentatively in 1971 and took decisive form when President Richard M. Nixon visited the secretary-general of the Soviet Communist party, Leonid I.
What language is the word detente?
detente (n.)
Treated as a French word in English until mid-20c. The French word was earlier borrowed as detent (1680s) “catch which regulates the strike in a clock” (a French extended use of the word in its secondary sense “catch of a crossbow,” which releases the tension in the string and discharges the bolt).
What is the English translation of the word détente?
Détente is a French word which means release from tension. It is the name given to a period of relations between the United States and the Soviet Union that began tentatively in 1971 in the era of Cold War.