Word.ws English Dictionary

lessening

lessening is the present participle and gerund of lessen.

Meaning of lessen

Verb

lessen (third-person singular simple present lessens, present participle lessening, simple past and past participle lessened)

  1. (transitive) To make less; to diminish; to reduce.
    • a. 1686, Benjamin Calamy, a sermon
      Charity […] shall lessen his punishment.
    Synonyms:
    blunt
  2. (intransitive) To become less.
    Synonyms:
    abate

See all 3 meanings of lessen

Noun

lessening (plural lessenings)

  1. A growing lesser; reduction or decrease.

Forms of lessening

plurallessenings

Questions about lessening

What does lessening mean?
Lessening means a growing lesser; reduction or decrease.
What is lessening the present participle and gerund of?
Lessening is the present participle and gerund of lessen.
What part of speech is lessening?
Lessening is a noun.
What is the plural of lessening?
The plural of lessening is lessenings.

Words near lessening in the dictionary

  1. lessened
  2. lessener
  3. lesseners
  4. lessenest
  5. lesseneth
  6. lessening
  7. lessenings
  8. lessens
  9. Lesseps
  10. Lessepses
  11. Lessepsian

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lessening (page history and authors); lessen (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.

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Cite this entry: “lessening.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lessening. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.