dumbing

present participle of dumb
as in shushing
to stop the noise or speech of the terrible news dumbed her for a long moment, and then she burst into tears

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for dumbing
Verb
  • Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim went to 3-0 for the week with a crowd-shushing rally from 2 down to a 2-and-1 victory over Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 26 Sep. 2026
  • Trae Young won Madison Square Garden’s undying enmity in the 2021 playoffs for the Atlanta Hawks, punctuating game-breaking shots by shushing the crowd or bowing to the fans and waving goodbye.
    — Leah Asmelash, CNN Money, 9 June 2026
Verb
  • Williams departed with a right hamstring injury midway through the fourth quarter, silencing a drenched crowd of 58,914 at Soldier Field.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 20 Sep. 2026
  • Those findings should not be reduced to one group silencing the other.
    — Liam Julian, Baltimore Sun, 14 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Among several solutions such as time limits and muting notifications during certain hours, the changes include giving teens the option to choose to view a non-algorithmic social media feed that isn’t personalized.
    — Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • During the third act, in a cunning effect, when anyone picks up a phone, the screen’s contents are displayed on a wall as the lights fade, muting the friends onstage.
    — Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 9 July 2026
Verb
  • Nelson remembers hushing her foster children back to sleep that night and calling 911, anxious for an end to those sleepless nights.
    — Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 2 Sep. 2026
  • If you’re used to traditional decluttering strategies that focus on sorting and purging, house hushing might feel strange.
    — Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 July 2026
Verb
  • Patrick Mahomes finished the job by scrambling up the middle, simultaneously giving the Chiefs an early lead and quieting some doubts about his reconstructed ACL and LCL.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Use the words that suit the tone of the piece, and that might mean quieting your inner voice, or the voice of your mother.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Likewise, tipping can make settling up uncomfortable when dining out with friends.
    — CNN Money, CNN Money, 4 Oct. 2026
  • The company has faced a wave of lawsuits about child safety and data security, most recently settling a major federal case involving a group of state attorneys general for nearly $17 billion.
    — Caleigh Keating, CNBC, 3 Oct. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Dumbing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dumbing. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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