Deadening

deadening
    adj 1: so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness; "a
           boring evening with uninteresting people"; "the deadening
           effect of some routine tasks"; "a dull play"; "his
           competent but dull performance"; "a ho-hum speaker who
           couldn't capture their attention"; "what an irksome task
           the writing of long letters is"- Edmund Burke; "tedious
           days on the train"; "the tiresome chirping of a cricket"-
           Mark Twain; "other people's dreams are dreadfully
           wearisome" [syn: {boring}, {deadening}, {dull}, {ho-hum},
           {irksome}, {slow}, {tedious}, {tiresome}, {wearisome}]
    n 1: the act of making something futile and useless (as by
         routine) [syn: {stultification}, {constipation},
         {impairment}, {deadening}]
    

deadening \dead"en*ing\ adj. [p. pr. of verb {deaden}[3].]
   Rendering less lively, intense, or vigorous; as, the
   deadening effect of some routine tasks.
   [WordNet 1.5]

   2. So lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness; as,
      the deadening effect of some routine tasks.

   Syn: boring, dreary, ho-hum, irksome, tedious, tiresome,
        wearisome.
        [WordNet 1.5]
    

Deaden \Dead"en\ (d[e^]d"'n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Deadened}
   (d[e^]d"'nd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Deadening}.] [From {Dead}; cf.
   AS. d?dan to kill, put to death. See {Dead}, a.]
   1. To make as dead; to impair in vigor, force, activity, or
      sensation; to lessen the force or acuteness of; to blunt;
      as, to deaden the natural powers or feelings; to deaden a
      sound.
      [1913 Webster]

            As harper lays his open palm
            Upon his harp, to deaden its vibrations.
                                                  --Longfellow.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To lessen the velocity or momentum of; to retard; as, to
      deaden a ship's headway.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To make vapid or spiritless; as, to deaden wine.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To deprive of gloss or brilliancy; to obscure; as, to
      deaden gilding by a coat of size.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To render impervious to sound, as a wall or floor; to
      deafen.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
    

deadening \dead"en*ing\ n.
   The act of making something futile and useless (as by
   routine).

   Syn: stultification, impairment.
        [WordNet 1.5]
    

98 Moby Thesaurus words for "deadening":
      abatement, abating, allaying, allayment, alleviating, alleviation,
      alleviative, analgesia, analgesic, anesthesia, anesthetic,
      anesthetizing, anodyne, appeasement, assuagement, assuaging,
      assuasive, attenuation, attrition, balmy, balsamic, benumbing,
      blunting, calming, cathartic, chastening, cleansing, cushioning,
      dampening, damping, debilitation, demulcent, demulsion,
      devitalization, dilution, diminishing, diminishment, diminution,
      dulcification, dulling, ease, easement, easing, effemination,
      emollient, enervation, enfeeblement, evisceration, exhaustion,
      extenuation, falling-off, fatigue, hushing, inanition,
      languishment, leniency, lenitive, lessening, letdown, letup,
      lightening, loosening, lulling, mitigating, mitigation, mitigative,
      modulation, mollification, narcotic, numbing, pacification,
      pain-killing, palliation, palliative, purgative, quietening,
      quieting, reducing, reduction, relaxation, relaxing, relief,
      relieving, remedial, remedy, remission, salving, slackening,
      softening, soothing, stunning, stupefying, subduement, subduing,
      tempering, thinning, tranquilization, weakening