Word.ws English Dictionary

slightening

slightening is the present participle and gerund of slighten.

Meaning of slighten

Verb

slighten (third-person singular simple present slightens, present participle slightening, simple past and past participle slightened)

  1. (ambitransitive) To make or become slight; make or become less pronounced, less noticeable, or less obvious.
    • His smile slightened as if he knew they talked of him.2004, D. L. Larson, Memories Trail, page 459
  2. (transitive) To slight.
    • […] as God forbid that anyone should hint a slightening word of what our sons and brothers are doing just now, and doing for us!1920, Arthur Quiller-Couch, On the Art of Reading
  3. (regional, transitive) To level out, smooth, or flatten.
    • to slighten the sheets out

Questions about slightening

What is slightening the present participle and gerund of?
Slightening is the present participle and gerund of slighten.

Words near slightening in the dictionary

  1. slight
  2. slight of hand
  3. slighted
  4. slighten
  5. slightened
  6. slightening
  7. slightens
  8. slighter
  9. slighters
  10. slightest
  11. slighteth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: slightening (page history and authors); slighten (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:

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