deaden synonyms

deaden

v.

  1. To reduce life or the evidence of life

    blunt, impair, dull, numb, desensitize, repress, slow, paralyze, anesthetize, drug, chloroform, gas, freeze, narcotize, etherize, put to sleep, make unfit, knock out, daze, benumb, incapacitate, depress, stupefy, stun, smother, stifle, suppress, frustrate, weaken, devitalize, injure, exhaust, tire, retard, knock stiff*, KO*, lay out*, dope*, put out of order*, take the edge off*; see also drug, weaken 2.

    Antonyms animate*, revitalize*, invigorate. *

  2. To soften

    tone down, dim, muffle, mute, dull, dampen, cushion; see also decrease 2, soften 2.

Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.