dampen
/ˈdæmpən/
dampen verb: to make damp or moist; to make moderately wet.
Verb
dampen (third-person singular simple present dampens, present participle dampening, simple past and past participle dampened)
- To make damp or moist; to make moderately wet.
- To become damp or moist.
- To lessen; to dull; to make less intense (said of emotions and non-physical things).
- We won't let the bad news dampen our spirits.
- He was dreadfully familiar with everything, and talked about some places we were longing to see in a way that considerably dampened our enthusiasm.1883 "Pomona's Daughter", Frank R. Stockton, in The Century, vol. XXVI, number 1, May, page 25
- To suppress vibrations (mechanical) or oscillations (electrical) by converting energy to heat (or some other form of energy).
- To become damped or deadened.
dampen meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
dampen in Hindi
- to dampen, become damp
- सीलना sīlnā
dampen in Tamil
- ஈரமாகு, நனை, ஆர்வம், உற்சாகம் முதலியவற்றை குறை, மந்தமாக்கு
dampen in Bengali
- ভেজানো
dampen in Malayalam
- moisten, damp, wet
- നനവു വരുത്തുക, ഈർപ്പമുണ്ടാക്കുക, ഈർപ്പം വരുത്തുക, ആർദ്രീകരിക്കുക, ഈർപ്പം പിടിപ്പിക്കുക, നനയ്ക്കുക
- diminish, lessen, decrease
- ശക്തികുറയ്ക്കുക, കുറയ്ക്കുക, ചുരുക്കുക, അല്പമാക്കുക, ചെറുതാക്കുക, മഴുക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- dampen in Kannada
- ನೆನೆಸು, ತಗ್ಗಿಸು, ತೇವಮಾಡು, ಒದ್ದೆಯಾಗಿಸು
Examples of dampen in a sentence
- Pregnant women are 20 times as likely as other healthy young women to contract listeriosis, probably because in pregnancy the immune system is dampened to prevent rejection of the fetus.2007 October 16, Jane E. Brody, “Despite Strides, Listeria Needs Vigilance”, in The New York Times:
- The firm said changes in consumer behaviour had also dampened demand for the powder.2020 May 20, “J&J to sell baby powder in UK despite stopping US sales”, in BBC, London: BBC, retrieved 22 May 2020:
Forms of dampen
| third-person singular present | dampens |
|---|---|
| present participle | dampening |
| past participle | dampened |
| past | dampened |
Origin of dampen
From damp + -en.
Words formed from dampen
Questions about dampen
- What does dampen mean?
- Dampen means to make damp or moist; to make moderately wet.
- What is dampen in Hindi?
- Dampen in Hindi is सीलना (sīlnā). See Dampen meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use dampen in a sentence?
- Pregnant women are 20 times as likely as other healthy young women to contract listeriosis, probably because in pregnancy the immune system is dampened to prevent rejection of the fetus.
- What part of speech is dampen?
- Dampen is a verb.
- How do you pronounce dampen?
- Dampen is pronounced /ˈdæmpən/.
- What is the past tense of dampen?
- The past tense of dampen is dampened.
Words near dampen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dampen (page history and authors); सीलना (Hindi) (page history and authors); dampen (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dampen (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dampen (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); dampen (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-dampen.wav.
Cite this entry: “dampen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dampen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.