deafen
/ˈdɛf(ə)n
/verb [with object]
1Cause (someone) to lose the power of hearing permanently or temporarily: we were deafened by the explosion...
- One detonated a few feet from Aguero, peppering him with shrapnel and deafening him temporarily in one ear.
- Such desires might seem reasonable if not for the fact that any parent who deafened a hearing baby would be charged with child abuse.
- Apparently, she was temporarily deafened by some anomalous phenomenon.
Synonyms
make deaf, make temporarily deaf, cause to be hard of hearing, deprive of hearing, impair someone's hearing, burst someone's eardrums
1.1(Of a loud noise) overwhelm (someone) with sound: he was deafened by lorry traffic...
- We who live there are deafened by the noise, gassed by the fumes and face injury crossing over the road.
- Sam's arrival was noticed just as the bell rang, so that she was deafened by the combined sound of the bell and enthusiastic greetings of her friends.
- In Razgrad we had to take breakfast in the coffee bar, and, as we studied the four-choice menu, we were deafened by rap music and engulfed in smoke from the staff's cigarettes.
1.2 (deafen someone to) Cause someone to be unaware of (other sounds): the noise deafened him to Ron’s approach...
- But maybe the wind whipped my words away, or maybe the blast had deafened Porter to anything but the blood coursing through him because he kept focussed on riding us straight and fast, and didn't even act like I were there at all.
- His innocence deafens him to the threat of the monsters, a threat which remains solely audible in the first half of the film.
- Her worry deafens her to the initial statement.