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weakening
Found in thesaurus: transmutation, shift, transformation, decrease, diminution, reduction, step-down
| Babylon English | Download this dictionary |
weakening
adj.
becoming weak; diminishing; tiring, flagging
n.
state of becoming weak; act of making weak
weaken
v.
make weak; be made weak
| English Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia | Download this dictionary |
Lenition
In linguistics, lenition is a kind of sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonorous (vowel-like). The word lenition itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin lenis = weak). Lenition can happen both synchronically (i.e. within a language at a particular point in time) and diachronically (i.e. as a language changes over time). Lenition can involve such changes as making a consonant more sonorous, causing a consonant to lose its place of articulation (a phenomenon called debuccalization, which turns a consonant into a glottal consonant like or ), or even causing a consonant to disappear entirely.
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| WordNet 2.0 | Download this dictionary |
weakening
Noun
1. becoming weaker
(antonym) strengthening
(hypernym) transformation, transmutation, shift
(hyponym) debilitation, enervation, enfeeblement, exhaustion
(derivation) weaken
2. the act of reducing the strength of something
(antonym) strengthening
(hypernym) decrease, diminution, reduction, step-down
(hyponym) wilt, wilting
(derivation) weaken
Adjective
1. causing debilitation
(synonym) debilitative, enervating, enfeebling
(similar) debilitating
2. moderating by making pain or sorrow weaker
(similar) moderating
weaken
Verb
1. lessen the strength of; "The fever weakened his body"
(antonym) strengthen, beef up, fortify
(hypernym) change, alter, modify
(hyponym) de-energize, de-energise
(derivation) weakener
2. become weaker; "The prisoner's resistance weakened after seven days"
(antonym) strengthen
(hypernym) decrease, diminish, lessen, fall
(hyponym) attenuate
(derivation) weakening
3. destroy property or hinder normal operations; "The Resistance sabotaged railroad operations during the war"
(synonym) sabotage, undermine, countermine, counteract, subvert
(hypernym) disobey
(hyponym) derail
4. reduce the level or intensity or size or scope of; "de-escalate a crisis"
(synonym) de-escalate, step down
(hypernym) decrease, lessen, minify
(derivation) weakener
5. lessen in force or effect; "soften a shock"; "break a fall"
(synonym) dampen, damp, soften, break
(hypernym) deaden, blunt
(hyponym) deafen
(derivation) weakener
| Babylon English-Czech | Download this dictionary |
weaken
v.
zeslábnout; polevit; oslabit
| Babylon English-Polish | Download this dictionary |
weaken
Czas.
osłabiać; słabnąć; ulegać
