1. (

• dampen ,
• deaden ,
• damp ,

) make vague or obscure or make (an image) less visible; "muffle the message" ;

2. (

• girdle ,
• deaden ,

) cut a girdle around so as to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients; "girdle the plant" ;

3. (

• deaden ,

) make vapid or deprive of spirit; "deadened wine" ;

4. (

• deaden ,

) lessen the momentum or velocity of; "deaden a ship's headway" ;

5. (

• deaden

) become lifeless, less lively, intense, or active; lose life, force, or vigor ;

6. (

• deaden ,
• blunt ,

) make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation; "Terror blunted her feelings"; "deaden a sound" ;

7. (

• deaden ,

) convert (metallic mercury) into a grey powder consisting of minute globules, as by shaking with chalk or fatty oil ;

1. (

• dead ,
• deadened

) devoid of physical sensation; numb; "his gums were dead from the novocain"; "she felt no discomfort as the dentist drilled her deadened tooth"; "a public desensitized by continuous television coverage of atrocities" ;

2. (

• deadened

) made or become less intense; "the deadened pangs of hunger" ;