Deaden1. (v.) 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.
2. (v.) To lessen the velocity or momentum of; to retard; as, to deaden a ship's headway.
3. (v.) To make vapid or spiritless; as, to deaden wine.
4. (v.) To deprive of gloss or brilliancy; to obscure; as, to deaden gilding by a coat of size.
Thesaurus Entries
KO, abate, absorb the shock, allay, alleviate, anesthetize, appease, assuage, attemper, attenuate, baffle, bank the fire, bedaze, benumb, besot, blunt, break the fall, chasten, chloroform, coldcock, constrain, control, cramp, cripple, cushion, damp, dampen, de-emphasize, deaden the pain, deafen, debilitate, desensitize, devitalize, diminish, dope, downplay, drug, dull, ease, ease matters, enervate, enfeeble, etherize, eviscerate, exhaust, extenuate, foment, freeze, give relief, gruel, kayo, keep within bounds, knock out, knock senseless, knock stiff, knock unconscious, lay, lay low, lay out, lenify, lessen, lighten, lull, mat, mitigate, moderate, modulate, mollify, muffle, mull, mute, narcotize, neutralize, numb, obtund, offset, pad, palliate, palsy, paralyze, play down, poultice, pour balm into, pour oil on, put to sleep, rattle, reduce, reduce the temperature, relieve, restrain, salve, sap, shake, shake up, show consideration, show mercy, show pity, slacken, slake, slow down, smother, sober, sober down, soft-pedal, soften, soften the blow, soften up, soothe, stifle, stop, stun, stupe, stupefy, subdue, suppress, tame, temper, tone down, tune down, unbrace, undermine, underplay, unman, unnerve, unstrengthen, unstring, weaken