1
as in undermined
to deprive of emotional or intellectual vitality
an excess of detail deadens much of the mystery novel's suspense
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in reduced
to reduce or weaken in strength or feeling
a couple of aspirins deadened the headache
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of deadened
Literary Hub, 3 Mar. 2026
Verb
Merrill had the same impulse—the need to become a self not necessarily free of all that money could buy but not crippled or deadened by it, either.
—Literary Hub, 3 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deadened
Adjective
-
Other teams soon showed that astrocytes in dishes, brain slices, and even anesthetized animals responded to various neurotransmitters.—
Ingrid Wickelgren,
Quanta Magazine,
30 Jan. 2026
-
The lyrics have the same anesthetized ennui as in emo rap and the new wave of online rock, but the beats are menacingly new and dead-set on defacing your consciousness.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
17 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
The cost of maintaining death row prisoners and a number of botched executions in recent years—lethal injections or gas administrations that take far too long to work, for example—have also undermined confidence.—
The Week US,
TheWeek,
13 Apr. 2026
-
The union’s credibility is also undermined by its response to the fact-finding process.—
Marc Joffe,
Daily News,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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And Utah temporarily reduced its state fuel tax, but only by 6 cents on the gallon, bringing its state gas tax to 32 cents on the gallon for the remainder of 2026.—
Kathryn Watson,
CBS News,
16 Apr. 2026
-
Iran’s enrichment capabilities have been reduced by bombing this year and last.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
15 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Maryam turned her back to me and soon drifted into a deep, drugged sleep.—
Danielle Parker,
CBS News,
14 Apr. 2026
-
Igor, for his part, is the sort of hero who, unless he is tied up, drugged or hit from behind, will get the best of any opponent; even one with a gun.—
Television Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
With the war in Iraq raging, the 84-year-old pope, weakened by Parkinson’s disease and less than a year from his death, condemned the war in Iraq with Bush sitting right next to him.—
Orlando Sentinel,
The Orlando Sentinel,
15 Apr. 2026
-
Hezbollah, though weakened in its last war with Israel that ended in November 2024, still fires drones, rockets and artillery daily into northern Israel and on ground troops inside Lebanon.—
Kareem Chehayeb,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
As the decades passed on, neither its sentiment nor its shine ever dulled.—
Bailey Bujnosek,
InStyle,
12 Apr. 2026
-
Perhaps the avalanche of artificial intelligence has dulled our capacity to be amazed by space technology.—
Michael Peregrine,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The boy is stupefied, snot intermingling with the puke dripping from his mouth to his navel.—
Matthew Shen Goodman,
Harpers Magazine,
19 Sep. 2025
Verb
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This latest denial likely closes the door for Williams to open a dispensary at the Broadway location — having exhausted most administrative routes.—
Hannah Elsmore,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
9 Apr. 2026
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In one panel, children maimed or exhausted by labor stare out bleakly; in another, unemployed men in a small industrial town sit or stand around.—
Judith Shulevitz,
The Atlantic,
9 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Deadened.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deadened. Accessed 19 Apr. 2026.
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