lessen
/ˈlɛs(ə)n
/verb
Make or become less; diminish: [with object]: the years have lessened the gap in age between us [no object]: the warmth of the afternoon lessened...
- The ambulance guys thanked me for being diligent and my anxiety about wasting their time was lessened.
- They diminish our humanity and, for that reason, they lessen our capacity for God.
- As their powers wane and their visibility lessens, they are not forgotten.
Synonyms
reduce, make less, minimize, make smaller, decrease;
allay, assuage, alleviate, attenuate, palliate, ease, dull, deaden, blunt, take the edge off, moderate, mitigate, check, dampen, depress, soften, tone down, dilute, relax, mollify, temper, weaken, tame, erode;
narrow, lower, discount;
curtail, prune, pare down, truncate
informal slash
grow less, get less, grow smaller, decrease, diminish, decline, subside, abate, moderate;
fade, die down/off, let up, ease off, tail off, drop, drop off/away, fall, dwindle, taper off, peter out, go/come down, shrink, contract;
ebb, wane, erode, waste away, flag, attenuate, slacken, lighten, quieten, recede, relent, remit, desist;
sink, slump, plummet
informal nosedive
diminish, lower, reduce, minimize, degrade, discredit, devalue, belittle, humble
Rhymes
- observation cell
- observation deck
- observation mine
- observation post
- observation report
- observation satellite
- observation sentence
- observation statement
- observation term
- observation ward
- observative
- observator
- observatory
- observe
- observedly
- observer
- observership
- observer's paradox
- obsess
- obsession
- obsessional
- obsessionalism
- obsessionality
- obsessionally
- obsessional neurosis