deaden

[ ded-n ]
See synonyms for deaden on Thesaurus.com
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.

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

verb (used without object)
  1. to become dead.

Origin of deaden

1
First recorded in 1655–65; dead + -en1

Other words for deaden

Other words from deaden

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use deaden in a sentence

  • To invent a sound-deadener to put on the pistol is working on wrong lines; it is not simplification but it is complication.

  • "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 deaden

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 of deaden

  • deadener, noun
  • deadening, 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