deaden
Americanverb (used with object)
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deadens,
present (3rd person singular)
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deadened,
past participle, past
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deadening
present participle
verb (used without object)
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deadens,
present (3rd person singular)
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deadened,
past participle, past
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deadening
present participle
verb
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to make or become less sensitive, intense, lively, etc; damp or be damped down; dull
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(tr) to make acoustically less resonant
he deadened the room with heavy curtains
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deadensimple
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deadenssimple
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have deadenedperfect
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has deadenedperfect
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am deadeningprogressive
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are deadeningprogressive
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is deadeningprogressive
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have been deadeningperfect progressive
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has been deadeningperfect progressive
Past
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deadenedsimple
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had deadenedperfect
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was deadeningprogressive
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were deadeningprogressive
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had been deadeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of deaden
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The evening signaled that this is not the type of show that will deaden an artist behind glass vitrines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
The truth, however, is the obscure word - meaning "to deaden" - is the name of a police-led training exercise.
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2024
The biggest is the ball and the size of the stitches, Nathan said, and MLB made slight adjustments to deaden the ball prior to the 2021 season.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 7, 2023
I’m to the point of considering bringing in a speaker to deaden their noise or broadcast an offensive podcast at them.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 20, 2023
After bandaging them neatly she had administered a potion that would deaden the pain and induce sleep.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
But La Nina pretty much deadens shear, which is “a huge factor” for more storm activity, University of Albany hurricane researcher Kristen Corbosiero said.
From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2022
While I respect their sense of history and their desire for universal standards, I resist such declarations when they fossilize into something that deadens inspiration.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2019
Lyndall Gordon’s endured a “boredom that deadens the air around my father”.
From Economist ● Apr. 19, 2018
Counting it no doubt palliates if not deadens any reservations.
From New York Times ● Nov. 7, 2017
It is hardly consoling to remember such a feeling, and so it deadens in our minds.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
For others, stop-start has deadened the joy of driving.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
I certainly think it's made me a more appreciative one, especially coming out of winter — a season where my senses inevitably feel a little deadened after marching through a procession of gray, sunless days.
From Salon ● Apr. 1, 2023
It’s pleasant to type on, thanks to each key’s even and clear sound signature, lacking ping or hollowness — though some may find it overly deadened.
From The Verge ● Aug. 30, 2022
Rantanen’s wrist shot over Smith’s left shoulder 57 seconds into the third period deadened Scotiabank Saddledome as Flames fans began coming to grips with team’s impending first-round upset.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 19, 2019
Their boots were deadened of all sound in the thick green grass.
From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury
She then delivered a speech that denounced the notion of cultural appropriation and its deadening effects on literature.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026
Likewise, many well-known geniuses like Billy Wilder, Otto Preminger and Fritz Lang, who were chased out of Europe by the Nazis, brilliantly exposed the hypocrisies and soul deadening conformity of mainstream American culture.
From Salon ● Jan. 1, 2026
If You're Glad I'll Be Frank imagined the speaking clock as a real woman speaking live, her internal monologue utterly at odds with the deadening repetitiveness of endlessly intoning "at the third stroke..."
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2025
Repeatedly returning to themes of globalization and alienation, the 55-year-old director has meticulously chronicled his country’s uneasy plunge into the 21st century as rampant industrialization risks deadening those left behind.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2025
The ice ball exploded, spraying his entire body with freezing, paralyzing streams of water, weighing down his arms, deadening his legs, squeezing his heart.
From "The Contender" by Robert Lipsyte
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
