Word.ws English Dictionary

put a damper on

put a damper on verb: to stop people from enjoying an activity.

Verb

put a damper on (third-person singular simple present puts a damper on, present participle putting a damper on, simple past and past participle put a damper on)

  1. (idiomatic) To stop people from enjoying an activity.
    • John told us he had lost his job, which put a damper on the celebrations.

Synonyms of put a damper on

4 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of put a damper on

Forms of put a damper on

third-person singular presentputs a damper on
present participleputting a damper on
past participleput a damper on
pastput a damper on
alternative formput a dampener on

Questions about put a damper on

What does put a damper on mean?
Put a damper on means to stop people from enjoying an activity.
What part of speech is put a damper on?
Put a damper on is a verb.
What is the past tense of put a damper on?
The past tense of put a damper on is put a damper on.

Words near put a damper on in the dictionary

  1. put a bug in someone's ear
  2. put a civil tongue in one's head
  3. put a civil tongue in one's mouth
  4. put a cork in it
  5. put a crimp in
  6. put a damper on
  7. put a dent in the universe
  8. put a finger to the wind
  9. put a foot wrong
  10. put a gun to someone's head
  11. put a hat on a hat

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: put a damper on (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: En-au-put a damper on.ogg.

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