1
as in undermining
to deprive of emotional or intellectual vitality
an excess of detail deadens much of the mystery novel's suspense
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in reducing
to reduce or weaken in strength or feeling
a couple of aspirins deadened the headache
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in anesthetic
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of deadening
David Szondy, New Atlas, 3 Mar. 2025
Lightweight glass, a reduction of sound-deadening materials, and the marginally lighter 6-speed manual gearbox help the 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera T Cabriolet weigh 3,505 pounds—the company's lightest manual open-roof variant.
—Michael Harley, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2025
In times of intensifying economic inequality, when many of the jobs on offer are precarious, underpaid, and spiritually deadening, the prospect of becoming your own boss holds a lot of appeal.
—Anna Wiener, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
Philips’ problems first surfaced publicly in June 2021, when the company warned that the noise-deadening foam lining its equipment, mostly CPAP machines, could break apart, sending potentially toxic particles and fumes into users’ throats and lungs.
—Peter Elkind, ProPublica, 22 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for deadening
Adjective
By studying the images, engineers can confirm and enhance the sonic-boom-deadening properties for the XB-1's airframe.
—David Szondy, New Atlas, 3 Mar. 2025
Lightweight glass, a reduction of sound-deadening materials, and the marginally lighter 6-speed manual gearbox help the 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera T Cabriolet weigh 3,505 pounds—the company's lightest manual open-roof variant.
—Michael Harley, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2025
In times of intensifying economic inequality, when many of the jobs on offer are precarious, underpaid, and spiritually deadening, the prospect of becoming your own boss holds a lot of appeal.
—Anna Wiener, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
Philips’ problems first surfaced publicly in June 2021, when the company warned that the noise-deadening foam lining its equipment, mostly CPAP machines, could break apart, sending potentially toxic particles and fumes into users’ throats and lungs.
—Peter Elkind, ProPublica, 22 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for deadening
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deadening
Verb
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Conversely, tax noncompliance could be the death knell undermining an otherwise strong application.—
Virginia La Torre Jeker,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
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Layered onto all of this is a political system in which priorities flip every few years, undermining the long-term planning and financing that such megaprojects demand.—
Ben Jones,
CNN Money,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The French prime minister was widely expected to lose the motion after failing to win support from political rivals on both the right and left for 2026 budget plans aimed at reducing the country's yawning budget deficit.—
Ganesh Rao,Holly Ellyatt,
CNBC,
9 Sep. 2025
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At Tufts University, scientists have developed a new drug that aims to boost weight loss while also reducing the nausea, muscle loss and weight regain associated with popular GLP-1 medications.—
Melissa Rudy,
FOXNews.com,
8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Dental surgeon William Thomas Green Morton saw the case as the perfect opportunity to test his anesthetic breathing apparatus in the hospital’s amphitheater.—
RJ Mackenzie,
Popular Science,
3 Sep. 2025
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Perry, who died at age 54 from the acute effects of the anesthetic ketamine, with drowning a contributing factor, previously detailed how his friends helped him in his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.—
Carly Thomas,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Then the hurricane continued on a more northward path around the islands and finally began weakening after powerful 145 mph winds tapered off.—
Dinah Voyles Pulver,
USA Today,
11 Sep. 2025
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Total job growth was revised lower by the largest amount in history, The revisions erased 911 thousand jobs over the full year period, adding to mounting concerns of a weakening labor market and fueling questions as to the reliability of monthly data being used to gauge employment.—
JJ Kinahan,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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In parts of Southeast Asia, totality will begin as the full moon rises, dulling the effect.—
Jamie Carter,
Space.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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Soaring temperatures and drought also sends trees into stress, dulling the experience of fall foliage.—
Emilee Coblentz,
Outside,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The draft, titled Development of Non-Opioid Analgesics for Chronic Pain, outlines steps to creating and seeking alternative chronic pain treatments amid the opioid epidemic, specifically the development of non-opioid analgesic products.—
Hollie Silverman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Sep. 2025
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An analgesic medication that works in the brain to reduce mild to moderate pain by increasing the body’s pain threshold and changing the way the body senses pain.—
Dr. Sanjay Gupta,
CNN Money,
26 Aug. 2025
Verb
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For more than a century, the region has been caught in a thrilling but exhausting economic romance.—
Reid Rasner,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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Jones remained on Ohio's death row for decades, exhausting most of his appeals, until Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Wende Cross overturned his murder conviction, freed him from prison and granted him a new trial two years ago.—
Dan Horn,
The Enquirer,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
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For now at least, that reality isn’t blunting the temporary ardor for counter-attack.—
Philip Elliott,
Time,
4 Aug. 2025
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Almost 12 million lower-income Americans would lose their health insurance by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), blunting the significant coverage gains made under the ACA.—
Nathaniel Weixel,
The Hill,
4 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deadening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deadening. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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