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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.
  2. to lessen the velocity of; retard: to deaden the headway of a ship.
  3. to make impervious to sound, as a floor.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to become dead.
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Origin of deaden

First recorded in 1655–65; dead + -en1
Related formsdead·en·er, nounun·dead·ened, adjective

Synonyms

1. blunt, diminish, lessen, numb, dull.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for deadener

Historical Examples

  • "I fears me thet wound's mighty liable ter be a deadener," he said.

    A Pagan of the Hills

    Charles Neville Buck

British Dictionary definitions for deadener

deaden

verb
  1. to make or become less sensitive, intense, lively, etc; damp or be damped down; dull
  2. (tr) to make acoustically less resonanthe deadened the room with heavy curtains
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Derived Formsdeadener, noundeadening, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for deadener

deaden

v.

1660s "deprive of or diminish (some quality)," from dead (adj.) + -en (1). Earlier the verb was simply dead. Related: Deadened; deadening.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper