deaden

[ ded-n ]

verb (used with object)

1. to make less sensitive, active, energetic, or forcible; weaken:

   to deaden sound; to deaden the senses; to deaden the force of a blow.

   Synonyms: dull, numb, lessen, diminish, blunt

2. to lessen the velocity of; retard:

   to deaden the headway of a ship.

3. to make impervious to sound, as a floor.

verb (used without object)

1. to become dead.

deaden

/ ˈdɛdən /

verb

1. to make or become less sensitive, intense, lively, etc; damp or be damped down; dull
2. tr to make acoustically less resonant

   he deadened the room with heavy curtains

Derived Forms

• ˈdeadening, adjective
• ˈdeadener, noun

Other Words From

• deaden·er noun
• un·deadened adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of deaden¹

First recorded in 1655–65; dead + -en ¹

Example Sentences

These are hull- and turret-mounted packs of explosives that are set off when hit by heavy enemy attacks, exploding outward and letting the counter-blast deaden the impact of the attacker’s weapon.

From Popular-Science

One asked for both a deadened baseball and rosters limited to 12 pitchers — which I wholeheartedly endorse because, if there are fewer pitchers to use, each pitcher has to do more and there can’t be as many game-stalling switches.

From Washington Post

Placebos can deaden pain signals coming from the nerves, they learned.

From Science News For Students

For bulletproof armor to be effective, it needs to distribute and deaden the energy of bullets quickly, it needs to be durable against repeat impacts, and it needs to be light and useful enough that people actually wear it.

From Popular-Science

It turns out that deadening some of the pain of mountain biking also dims some of the satisfaction.

From Outside Online

Are you talking about your battle with rheumatoid arthritis and the need to deaden the pain of it?

From The Daily Beast

The dining room, even in the heat of summer, should be carpeted, to deaden the noise of the servants' feet.

From Project Gutenberg

Hay and straw were laid upon the bridges to deaden the sound of the artillery wheels.

From Project Gutenberg

An attempt to imagine a body destitute of thy potency, would be to bankrupt and deaden the material universe.

From Project Gutenberg

Even concussion of the brain had failed to deaden the memory of that awful night.

From Project Gutenberg

Her heart answered to the same emotions that quicken or deaden the beat of other breasts.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• desensitize
• impair