In engineering and physics, to put something out of phase or disrupt its synchronized timing.
From de- (reverse, remove) + phase (a stage or position in a cycle). Emerged in 20th-century electrical and mechanical engineering terminology.
Dephasing is actually crucial in acoustics—noise-canceling headphones work by using sound waves that are dephased to cancel out unwanted noise, which is pretty mind-blowing when you think about it.
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