- to make or become less sensitive, intense, lively, etc; damp or be damped down; dull
- (transitive) to make acoustically less resonant: he deadened the room with heavy curtains
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
dead•en /ˈdɛdən/USA pronunciation
v. [ ~ + obj]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- to make less sensitive, intense, strong, or effective:pills to deaden pain.
- to make dull or lifeless:The criticism deadened my enthusiasm.
dead•en
(ded′n),USA pronunciation v.t.
v.i.
dead′en•er, n.
- to make less sensitive, active, energetic, or forcible;
weaken:to deaden sound;to deaden the senses;to deaden the force of a blow. - to lessen the velocity of;
retard:to deaden the headway of a ship. - to make impervious to sound, as a floor.
v.i.
- to become dead.
- dead + -en1 1655–65
- 1. . blunt, diminish, lessen, numb, dull.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
deaden /ˈdɛdən/ vb
'deaden' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):