different between diminish vs smother

English

Etymology

Formed under the influence of both diminue (from Old French diminuer, from Latin d?minuo) and minish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??m?n??/

Verb

diminish (third-person singular simple present diminishes, present participle diminishing, simple past and past participle diminished)

1. (transitive) To make smaller.
2. (intransitive) To become smaller.
3. (transitive) To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken; to nerf (in gaming).
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Ezekiel 29:15,^[1]

     It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.

   • 1639, Ralph Robinson (translator), Utopia by Thomas More, London, Book 2, “Of their journying or travelling abroad,” p. 197,^[2]

     […] this doth nothing diminish their opinion.

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 4, lines 32-35,^[3]

     O thou, that, with surpassing glory crowned,

     Lookest from thy sole dominion like the God

     Of this new world; at whose sight all the stars

     Hide their diminished heads; to thee I call,

   • 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, London: André Deutsch, Chapter 3,

     In Seth’s presence Mr Biswas felt diminished. Everything about Seth was overpowering: his calm manner, his smooth grey hair, his ivory holder, his hard swollen forearms […]

4. (intransitive) To taper.
   • 1853, Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford, London: J.M. Dent, 1904, Chapter 8, p. 120,^[4]

     The chair and table legs diminished as they neared the ground, and were straight and square in all their corners.

5. (intransitive) To disappear gradually.
   • 1948, Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter, Penguin, 1971, Part Two, Chapter 2, 1, p. 77,^[5]

     ‘Good evening, good evening,’ Father Rank called. His stride lengthened and he caught a foot in his soutane and stumbled as he went by. ‘A storm’s coming up,’ he said. ‘Got to hurry,’ and his ‘ho, ho, ho’ diminished mournfully along the railway track, bringing no comfort to anyone.

6. (transitive) To take away; to subtract.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Deuteronomy 4:2,^[6]

     Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

Antonyms

• improve, repair, renovate

Derived terms

• diminishment
• law of diminishing returns

Related terms

• diminution

Translations

Anagrams

• minidish

English

Alternative forms

• smoother (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?sm?ð?/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(r)

Etymology 1

From Middle English smothren, smortheren, alteration (due to smother, smorther (“a suffocating vapour, dense smoke”, noun)) of Middle English smoren (“to smother”), from Old English smorian (“to smother, suffocate, choke”), from Proto-Germanic *smur?n? (“to suffocate, strangle”). Cognate with Middle Low German smoren, smurten (“to choke, suffocate”), West Flemish smoren (“to smoke, reek”), Dutch smoren (“to suffocate, smother", also "to stew, simmer”), German schmoren (“to stew, simmer, braise”).

Verb

smother (third-person singular simple present smothers, present participle smothering, simple past and past participle smothered)

1. (transitive) To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
2. (transitive) To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.

3. (transitive) To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish

   Synonyms: stifle, cover up, conceal, hide

4. (transitive) In cookery: to cook in a close dish.

5. (transitive) To daub or smear.
6. (intransitive) To be suffocated.
7. (intransitive) To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.
8. (intransitive, of a fire) to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
9. (intransitive, figuratively) to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
10. (soccer) To get in the way of a kick of the ball.
11. (Australian rules football) To get in the way of a kick of the ball, preventing it going very far. When a player is kicking the ball, an opponent who is close enough will reach out with his hands and arms to get over the top of it, so the ball hits his hands after leaving the kicker's boot, dribbling away.

Related terms

• smotheration
• smotheriness
• smothery

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English smother, smorther (“a suffocating vapour, dense smoke”), from Old English smorþor (“smoke”, literally “that which suffocates”), from smorian (“to suffocate, choke”) + -þor (instrumental suffix).

Noun

smother (plural smothers)

1. That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
   1. Smoldering; slow combustion.
   2. Cookware used in such cooking. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
   3. (dated) The state of being stifled; suppression.
      • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Suspicion

        not to keep their suspicions in smother

   4. (dated) Stifling smoke; thick dust.
      • 1868, Judy (volumes 3-4, page 20)

        Then we passed the Grand Opéra, at which our fine taste revolted; the Rue de la Paix, all in a smother with the dust caused by its improvement, at which our eyes naturally distilled water; […]

   5. (Australian rules football) The act of smothering a kick (see verb section).

References

• smother in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• moth-ers, mothers, thermos