to castrate
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to castrate
To surgically remove the sex glands (testicles) of a male living being in order to make it infertile.
Es wird empfohlen, Hauskatzen und Kater kastrieren zu lassen, um unerwünschten Nachwuchs zu vermeiden.
It is recommended to have house cats, both female and male, neutered to avoid unwanted offspring.
Since the action is usually carried out by a veterinarian, 'kastrieren' (to castrate / neuter) is very often used in a construction with 'lassen' (to have something done). The subject of the sentence is therefore the person who gives the order.
Wir haben unseren Kater letzte Woche kastrieren lassen.
We had our tomcat neutered last week.
In the figurative sense, 'kastrieren' (to weaken / to castrate) means that something important is removed, for example from a law or a plan, thereby greatly weakening it. This use is metaphorical and has a critical undertone.
Die Redaktion hat den kritischen Artikel so stark gekürzt, dass er nun völlig kastriert wirkt.
The editorial team shortened the critical article so much that it now seems completely gutted.
In its figurative meaning, 'kastrieren' (to weaken / to castrate) is often applied to abstract things such as laws, texts, ideas, or proposals.
Die Opposition findet, der Kompromiss habe den ursprünglichen Vorschlag kastriert.
The opposition thinks the compromise weakened the original proposal.
to defuse
'entschärfen' and 'kastrieren' can both mean, in a figurative sense, that something has a weaker effect. But the tone is very different. 'entschärfen' sounds neutral or positive: you make a situation calmer, wording less harsh, or a rule less strict. 'kastrieren' is much stronger and is usually meant negatively. It says that something is weakened so much that important content or its actual force is lost. The words can be confused when talking about changes to texts, rules, or proposals. If the change sensibly calms or softens something, 'entschärfen' fits. If you want to criticize that something has been cut back too much or made ineffective, 'kastrieren' fits in the figurative sense.
Durch die vielen Streichungen wurde der ursprüngliche Vorschlag fast kastriert.
Because of the many cuts, the original proposal was almost gutted.
Die Moderatorin entschärfte die Diskussion, bevor sie laut wurde.
The moderator defused the discussion before it got loud.