verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To make damp or moist; to make moderately wet. transitive
2. 2
   make moist wordnet
3. 3
   To become damp or moist. intransitive
4. 4
   lessen in force or effect wordnet
5. 5
   To lessen; to dull; to make less intense (said of emotions and non-physical things). transitive

   "We won't let the bad news dampen our spirits."

Show 7 more definitions

6. 6
   check; keep in check (a fire) wordnet
7. 7
   To suppress vibrations (mechanical) or oscillations (electrical) by converting energy to heat (or some other form of energy). proscribed, transitive
8. 8
   make vague or obscure or make (an image) less visible wordnet
9. 9
   To become damped or deadened. intransitive
10. 10
    suppress or constrain so as to lessen in intensity wordnet
11. 11
    reduce the amplitude (of oscillations or waves) wordnet
12. 12
    deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

moistenmufflestifleabateabridgeabsorb the shock

Antonyms

All antonyms

kindle

Example

More examples

"The defeat didn't dampen his spirits."

Etymology

From damp + -en.

Related phrases

dampen downdampen off

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.