person calming down

Meanings

1. 1phrasefixed phrase

   Someone who is becoming quiet and relaxed after being upset, excited, or angry.

   Grammar: Used as a noun phrase to describe a person at a particular moment; it is not a fixed idiom, so the words can change with the situation.

   Patterns

   • a person calming down after something
   • help a person calm down
   • wait for someone to calm down

   The teacher waited until the person calming down in the corner was ready to talk.

   You can see she is a person calming down: her breathing is slower and her voice is steady now.

   After the argument, he was clearly a person calming down, so I gave him some space.

2. 2phrasefixed phrase

   The act or process of a person becoming calm again.

   Grammar: Here the phrase names an event or process rather than describing one individual, so it can follow words like 'watch' or 'see'.

   Patterns

   • watch a person calming down
   • the process of a person calming down

   Watching a person calming down takes patience, especially with young children.

   The video shows a person calming down after a panic attack, which many viewers found helpful.

Common combinations

slowly calming down

She was slowly calming down after the shock.

calm down after an argument

He needed time to calm down after the argument.

help someone calm down

A quiet voice can help someone calm down.

wait for someone to calm down

We waited for him to calm down before continuing.

a calming effect

Her gentle tone had a calming effect on the whole room.

Synonyms and how they differ

settling down

Focuses on becoming quiet and orderly, often after excitement, and is common for groups or situations as well as people.

relaxing

Suggests letting go of tension, but does not necessarily mean the person was upset or angry first.

cooling off

Often used when someone has been angry; it is more informal and stresses the anger cooling.

composing oneself

More formal and suggests deliberately controlling your feelings, not just becoming calm naturally.

Opposites

Word family

calm adjective

Quiet and not excited, worried, or angry.

calmly adverb

In a quiet, relaxed way.

calmness noun

The state of being quiet and relaxed.

calm down phrasal verb

To become calm, or to make someone calm.

Commonly confused: person calming down or calming someone down?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “person calming down”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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