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/dˈɛdənɪŋ/ /dˈɛdnɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Deaden v. t. (past & past part. deadened; pres. part. deadening)

To make as dead; to impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation; to lessen the force or acuteness of; to blunt; as, to deaden the natural powers or feelings; to deaden a sound. "As harper lays his open palm Upon his harp, to deaden its vibrations."

To lessen the velocity or momentum of; to retard; as, to deaden a ship's headway.

To make vapid or spiritless; as, to deaden wine.

To deprive of gloss or brilliancy; to obscure; as, to deaden gilding by a coat of size.

To render impervious to sound, as a wall or floor; to deafen.

noun

deadening n. The act of making something futile and useless (as by routine).

Synonyms: stultification, impairment.

adjective

deadening adj.

Rendering less lively, intense, or vigorous; as, the deadening effect of some routine tasks.

So lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness; as, the deadening effect of some routine tasks.

Synonyms: boring, dreary, ho-hum, irksome, tedious, tiresome, wearisome.

See images of 'Deadening'

Etymology of 'Deadening'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Deadening" Quotes from Famous Books

... as she passed the tragic events of the night in review and vainly sought for some clue to the mystery. The dreadful logic of the circumstances which pointed to suicide, hammered at her consciousness with deadening persistence, but she resolutely refused to give it entry. Why should Robert commit suicide? Why indeed? It was the question which had sprung to her lips when she first heard Austin's belief, and it was to that she now clung in the ...

— The Moon Rock • Arthur J. Rees

... depending wilted and sapless, the leaden air, the hot, red globe of dull light hanging before her in the eastern heavens—all seemed a part of the lifeless, hopeless pall which weighed from every point upon her, deadening thought and senses. The difficult descent of the steep western hill, the passage across the damp bottom and over the tumbling, shouting waters, the milder ascent, the cooler, smoother forest walk toward the Cedars beyond—these vaguely reflected themselves as stages of the crisis through which ...

— In the Valley • Harold Frederic

... Sylvester Copley, had approximated in his time the character of a country gentleman. Bates was getting on in years, of course, which would account for much of his increased graveness and passivity, but not all. Unless Miss Ocky's suspicions were wide of the mark, he, too, had come under the deadening influence of Varr's dominance—ah! but had he entirely? At the very moment she was thinking about it, Simon had uttered a terse comment, as biting as acid, upon some negligible feature of the dinner-service. No faintest flicker of ...

— The Monk of Hambleton • Armstrong Livingston

... claim that for the past four years, so satisfactory has been the result of this system in the extracting of teeth and deadening extremely sensitive dentine, there was no longer any necessity for chloroform, ether, or nitrous oxide in the dental office. That such teeth as cannot be extracted by its aid can well be preserved and made ...

— Scientific American Supplement No. 275 • Various

... tidings hasten in a few minutes over all the Swedish army: but instead of deadening the courage of these hardy troops, they rouse it to a fierce consuming fire. Life falls in value, since the holiest of all lives is gone; and death has now no terror for the lowly, since it has not spared the ...

— The Life of Friedrich Schiller - Comprehending an Examination of His Works • Thomas Carlyle

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