Deaden
['ded(ə)n] or ['dɛdn]
Definition
(verb.) convert (metallic mercury) into a grey powder consisting of minute globules, as by shaking with chalk or fatty oil.
(verb.) make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation; 'Terror blunted her feelings'; 'deaden a sound'.
(verb.) become lifeless, less lively, intense, or active; lose life, force, or vigor.
(verb.) lessen the momentum or velocity of; 'deaden a ship's headway'.
(verb.) make vapid or deprive of spirit; 'deadened wine'.
Edited by Hardy--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) 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.
(a.) To lessen the velocity or momentum of; to retard; as, to deaden a ship's headway.
(a.) To make vapid or spiritless; as, to deaden wine.
(a.) To deprive of gloss or brilliancy; to obscure; as, to deaden gilding by a coat of size.
Typist: Miguel
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Weaken, impair, dull, damp, dampen.[2]. Blunt, benumb, paralyze, obtund, hebetate, make insensible.
Typed by Joan
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Benumb, paralyze, blunt, damp, subdue
ANT:Sharpen, quicken, enliven
Editor: Louise
Examples
- If I were a Roman Catholic and could deaden my heart, stun it with some great blow, I might become a nun. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- This spring is surrounded its entire length by rubber tubing to deaden vibration. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Some thick old hangings had been nailed up before the windows, to deaden the sound of the shrieks. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- She was rarely alone, he pressed upon her like a frost, deadening her. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- In many ways we are more defenceless against these deadening habits than the people of Europe. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- It had been serviceable in deadening the first shock, without retaining any influence to alarm. Jane Austen. Emma.
- He and she together, Hermione and Birkin, were people of the same old tradition, the same withered deadening culture. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- As her once elastic walk had become deadened by time, so had her natural pride of life been hindered in its blooming by her necessities. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- The many sounds become so deadened that the change is like putting cotton in the ears, or having the head thickly muffled. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- But her fingers were in the way and deadened the blow. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- They were all three more sharply on the alert, and less deadened by the miserable influences of the place and time. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- There was a raw scent of chrysanthemums and tube-roses, deadened. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- It is a deadened world, and its growth is sometimes unhealthy for want of air. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- She was afraid lest she should even become sleepily deadened into forgetfulness of anything beyond the life which was lapping her round with luxury. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- Something that deadens, making an endeavour to pass one hand down one side, and confuses, touching his lips. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
Typist: Stephanie