Adjacent Words

Deaden definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DEAD'EN, v.t. ded'n.
1. To deprive of a portion of vigor, force or sensation; to abate vigor or action; as, to deaden the force of a ball; to deaden the natural powers or feelings.
2. To blunt; to render less susceptible or feeling; as, to deaden the motion of a ship or of the wind.
3. To retard; to lessen velocity or motion; as, to deaden the motion of a ship or of the wind.
4. To diminish spirit; to make vapid or spiritless; as, to deaden wine or beer.
DEAD'-EYE, n. ded'-eye. Among seamen, a round flattish wooden block, encircled by a rope, or an iron band, and pierced with holes, to receive the laniard, used to extend the shrouds and stays, and for other purposes.
DEAD'-HEARTED, a. Having a dull, faint heart.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make vague or obscure or make (an image) less visible; "muffle the message" [syn: dampen, deaden, damp]
2: cut a girdle around so as to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients; "girdle the plant" [syn: girdle, deaden]
3: make vapid or deprive of spirit; "deadened wine"
4: lessen the momentum or velocity of; "deaden a ship's headway"
5: become lifeless, less lively, intense, or active; lose life, force, or vigor
6: make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation; "Terror blunted her feelings"; "deaden a sound" [syn: deaden, blunt] [ant: animate, enliven, invigorate, liven, liven up]
7: convert (metallic mercury) into a grey powder consisting of minute globules, as by shaking with chalk or fatty oil

Merriam Webster's

verb (deadened; deadening) Date: 1613 transitive verb 1. to impair in vigor or sensation ; blunt <deadened his enthusiasm> <deadened the pain> 2. a. to deprive of brilliance b. to make vapid or spiritless <oxygen deadens wine> c. to make (as a wall) impervious to sound 3. to deprive of life ; kill intransitive verb to become dead ; lose life or vigor • deadener noun • deadeningly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 tr. & intr. deprive of or lose vitality, force, brightness, sound, feeling, etc. 2 tr. (foll. by to) make insensitive. Derivatives: deadener n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Deaden Dead"en, v. t. To render impervious to sound, as a wall or floor; to deafen.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Deaden Dead"en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Deadened; p. pr. & vb. n. Deadening.] [From Dead; cf. AS. d?dan to kill, put to death. See Dead, a.] 1. To make as dead; to impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation; to lessen the force or acuteness of; to blunt; as, to deaden the natural powers or feelings; to deaden a sound.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(deadens, deadening, deadened) If something deadens a feeling or a sound, it makes it less strong or loud. He needs morphine to deaden the pain in his chest... VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Weaken, impair, abate, restrain, retard, dull, damp, dampen. 2. Blunt, benumb, paralyze, obtund, hebetate, make insensible.

Moby Thesaurus

KO, abate, absorb the shock, allay, alleviate, anesthetize, appease, assuage, attemper, attenuate, baffle, bank the fire, bedaze, benumb, besot, blunt, break the fall, chasten, chloroform, coldcock, constrain, control, cramp, cripple, cushion, damp, dampen, de-emphasize, deaden the pain, deafen, debilitate, desensitize, devitalize, diminish, dope, downplay, drug, dull, ease, ease matters, enervate, enfeeble, etherize, eviscerate, exhaust, extenuate, foment, freeze, give relief, gruel, kayo, keep within bounds, knock out, knock senseless, knock stiff, knock unconscious, lay, lay low, lay out, lenify, lessen, lighten, lull, mat, mitigate, moderate, modulate, mollify, muffle, mull, mute, narcotize, neutralize, numb, obtund, offset, pad, palliate, palsy, paralyze, play down, poultice, pour balm into, pour oil on, put to sleep, rattle, reduce, reduce the temperature, relieve, restrain, salve, sap, shake, shake up, show consideration, show mercy, show pity, slacken, slake, slow down, smother, sober, sober down, soft-pedal, soften, soften the blow, soften up, soothe, stifle, stop, stun, stupe, stupefy, subdue, suppress, tame, temper, tone down, tune down, unbrace, undermine, underplay, unman, unnerve, unstrengthen, unstring, weaken