different between attenuate vs dampen

English

Etymology

From Latin attenu?re, from attenu?t-, at- = ad-, ad- (“to”) + tenu?re (“to make thin”), tenuis (“thin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??t?n.ju?.e?t/

Verb

attenuate (third-person singular simple present attenuates, present participle attenuating, simple past and past participle attenuated)

1. (transitive) To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree.
   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd, ch. 40:

     A manor-house clock from the far depths of shadow struck the hour, one, in a small, attenuated tone.

2. (transitive) To make thinner, as by physically reshaping, starving, or decaying.
   • 1899, Stephen Crane, His New Mittens, ch. 4:

     Clumps of attenuated turkeys were suspended here and there.

   • 1906, E. Phillips Oppenheim, The Malefactor, ch. 1:

     Lovell, wan and hollow-eyed, his arm in a sling, his once burly frame gaunt and attenuated with disease, nodded.

3. (intransitive) To become thin or fine; to grow less.
4. (transitive) To weaken.
   • 1851, Sir Francis Palgrave, The History of Normandy and of England, ch. IV:

     We may reject and reject till we attenuate history into sapless meagreness.

5. (transitive) To rarefy.
   • 1901, H. G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon, ch. 23:

     "It speedily became apparent that the entire strangeness of our circumstances and surroundings—great loss of weight, attenuated but highly oxygenated air, consequent exaggeration of the results of muscular effort, rapid development of weird plants from obscure spores, lurid sky—was exciting my companion unduly."

6. (transitive, medicine) To reduce the virulence of a bacterium or virus.
7. (transitive, electronics) To reduce the amplitude of an electrical, radio, or optical signal.
8. (brewing) (of a beer) To become less dense as a result of the conversion of sugar to alcohol.

Antonyms

• (electronics): amplify

Derived terms

• attenuation
• attenuable
• attenuator
• attenuative

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

attenuate (comparative more attenuate, superlative most attenuate)

1. (botany, of leaves) Gradually tapering into a petiole-like extension toward the base.

Translations

Italian

Verb

attenuate

1. second-person plural present indicative of attenuare
2. second-person plural imperative of attenuare
3. feminine plural of attenuato

Latin

Verb

attenu?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of attenu?

English

Etymology

From damp +? -en.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?dæmp?n/

Verb

dampen (third-person singular simple present dampens, present participle dampening, simple past and past participle dampened)

1. (transitive) To make damp or moist; to make moderately wet.
2. (intransitive) To become damp or moist.
3. (transitive) To lessen; to dull; to make less intense (said of emotions and non-physical things).
   • 1883 "Pomona's Daughter", Frank R. Stockton, in The Century, vol. XXVI, number 1, May, page 25

     He was dreadfully familiar with everything, and talked about some places we were longing to see in a way that considerably dampened our enthusiasm.

   • 2007 October 16, Jane E. Brody, “Despite Strides, Listeria Needs Vigilance”, The New York Times,

     Pregnant women are 20 times as likely as other healthy young women to contract listeriosis, probably because in pregnancy the immune system is dampened to prevent rejection of the fetus.
4. (intransitive) To become damped or deadened.

Translations

Anagrams

• dampne, madnep

Danish

Noun

dampen c

1. definite singular of damp

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?mp?(n)/
• Hyphenation: dam?pen
• Rhymes: -?mp?n

Etymology 1

From damp +? -en. The meaning “to vape” is a semantic loan from English.

Verb

dampen

1. (intransitive) to steam, to give off steam or smoke
2. (intransitive) to vape (to inhale the vapour of an electronic cigarette)

   Synonym: vapen

Inflection

Derived terms

• bedampen
• indampen
• uitdampen
• verdampen

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Noun

dampen

1. Plural form of damp

Middle English

Verb

dampen

1. Alternative form of dampnen

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

dampen m

1. definite singular of damp

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

dampen

1. definite singular of damp