deafening
[def-uh-ning]
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Origin of deafening
deafen
[def-uh n]
- to make deaf: The accident deafened him for life.
- to stun or overwhelm with noise: The pounding of the machines deafened us.
- deaden(def 3).
- Obsolete. to render (a sound) inaudible, especially by a louder sound.
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Origin of deafen
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for deafening
Contemporary Examples
They know they will face either a swift backlash or deafening silence.
Internet chatter rose to a deafening roar as speculation began about what—plastic surgery?
Any upcoming release of a new Apple product guarantees a deafening cacophony of idle speculation from tech sites.
He joked about the deafening noise levels in the old C-130 transport planes and sex at his age, then approaching 60.
Then a deafening cheer, as 50,000 people realized at once we had just experienced a major earthquake.
Historical Examples
Why do you make such a deafening noise, you pussy cat, there behind the stove?
Rico and WiseliJohanna Spyri
It was Beauvallet, the deafening tragedian of the Comdie Franaise.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
The roar of the wind and the surging of water were all around, and were deafening.
The First ViolinJessie Fothergill
The deafening noises of the faubourg sounded like bells in their ears.
L'AssommoirEmile Zola
Behind them, as they fled, came suddenly two deafening explosions.
Spawn of the CometHarold Thompson Rich
deafening
- excessively louddeafening music
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deafen
- (tr) to make deaf, esp momentarily, as by a loud noise
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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 deafening
adj.
"very loud," 1590s, from present participle of deafen (q.v.). Deafening silence is attested by 1830.
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deafen
v.
1590s, "to make deaf," from deaf + -en (1). The earlier verb was simply deaf (mid-15c.). For "to become deaf, to grow deaf," Old English had adeafian (intransitive), which survived into Middle English as deave but then took on a transitive sense from mid-14c. and sank from use except in dialects (where it mostly has transitive and figurative senses), leaving English without an intransitive verb here.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
deafen
(dĕf′ən)- To make deaf, especially momentarily by a loud noise.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.