DEADEN
Dictionary entry overview: What does deaden mean?
• DEADEN (verb)
The verb DEADEN has 7 senses:
1. make vague or obscure or make (an image) less visible
2. cut a girdle around so as to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients
3. make vapid or deprive of spirit
4. lessen the momentum or velocity of
5. become lifeless, less lively, intense, or active; lose life, force, or vigor
6. make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation
7. convert (metallic mercury) into a grey powder consisting of minute globules, as by shaking with chalk or fatty oil
Familiarity information: DEADEN used as a verb is common.
Dictionary entry details
• DEADEN (verb)
Meaning:
Make vague or obscure or make (an image) less visible
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
deaden; damp; dampen
Context example:
muffle the message
Hypernyms (to "deaden" is one way to...):
break; damp; dampen; soften; weaken (lessen in force or effect)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Meaning:
Cut a girdle around so as to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
girdle; deaden
Context example:
girdle the plant
Hypernyms (to "deaden" is one way to...):
incise (make an incision into by carving or cutting)
Domain category:
flora; plant; plant life (a living organism lacking the power of locomotion)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Meaning:
Make vapid or deprive of spirit
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Context example:
deadened wine
Hypernyms (to "deaden" is one way to...):
alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s something
Meaning:
Lessen the momentum or velocity of
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Context example:
deaden a ship's headway
Hypernyms (to "deaden" is one way to...):
retard (cause to move more slowly or operate at a slower rate)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Meaning:
Become lifeless, less lively, intense, or active; lose life, force, or vigor
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "deaden" is one way to...):
change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Meaning:
Make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
blunt; deaden
Context examples:
Terror blunted her feelings / deaden a sound
Hypernyms (to "deaden" is one way to...):
alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deaden"):
obtund (reduce the edge or violence of)
petrify (cause to become stonelike or stiff or dazed and stunned)
break; damp; dampen; soften; weaken (lessen in force or effect)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Antonym:
enliven (make lively)
Meaning:
Convert (metallic mercury) into a grey powder consisting of minute globules, as by shaking with chalk or fatty oil
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "deaden" is one way to...):
convert (change the nature, purpose, or function of something)
Domain category:
chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
