English Language & Usage Asked on July 5, 2021
I’m looking for a more suitable word than recalibrate in my sentence below. I think the context of the word I’m looking for is clear here from the sentence.
After spending years having a chummy relationship with my boss, the
party incident forced us to recalibrate our relationship into
something more formal.
PowerThesaurus provides over 250 synonyms (adjust, change, restore, revise, amend, change, remedy …), but not all are equally appropriate here.
Bonus: Is there anything else stylistically or grammatically unsatisfactory with the sentence? It bothers me that I’m using the word something.
Why not settle for changed which, as it turns out, is the stock word in such contexts?
transmuted and toned down are other alternatives you might like, but the former could sound a tad heavy in such a context.
As regards your sentence, I suggest that you rewrite it because it contains a dangling participle. It appears as if the party incident has spent years of chummy relationship with your boss. Thus perhaps, you could write—
After years of a chummy relationship with my boss, I was forced to change our relationship into a formal one owing to the party incident.
I was forced to tone down the chummy relationship with my boss,thanks to the party incident.
EDIT— In response to the OP's comments, I am slightly expanding my answer. Since the OP wants the sentence to conjure in readers a sense of "quantifiable relationship", if you will, I suggest the phrasal verb ratchet down, which readily evokes this sense (ratchet, by the way, consists of a toothed wheel and a bar which governs motion; the phrasal verb furnishes the notion of metaphorical motion).
As regards the other query, spending for some reason didn't seem to sit well there. I may be wrong on this count but would certainly, either leave the word out or use enjoy instead because it collocates fluidly with chummy relationship.
Correct answer by user405662 on July 5, 2021
My own feeling about your sentence is that recalibrate is a weirdly used piece of business jargon and that it should not be used in this context. It is often used to impress the listener (with a spurious impression of objectivity) rather than to inform them (about a subjective matter).
If recalibrated, how was friendship "calibrated" in the first place? Why apply a verb that relates to the comparison or setting of things on a numerical scale to an emotional thing such as friendship?
calibrate = to mark units of measurement on an instrument such so that it can measure accurately
calibrate = to standardize (something, such as a measuring instrument) by determining the deviation from a standard so as to ascertain the proper correction factors
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calibrate
Answered by Anton on July 5, 2021
I've looked at the various synonyms of 'change', 'realign' that various dictionaries and thesauruses offer, and the one I feel has the best connotations and register here is re-evaluate.
re-evaluate [verb; I or T] (also reevaluate)
to consider or examine something again in order to make changes or to form a new opinion about it:
- We have re-evaluated our mail order business with the aim of building on and upgrading
It is commonly used for relationships:
- If you have set boundaries with this person and they continually violate your standards, it is time to reevaluate your relationship.
The 'consequent retailoring' is almost a given.
In your example sentence, 'opting for / agreeing on something more formal' say would be required.
Answered by Edwin Ashworth on July 5, 2021
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