dampens

Dampens is the third-person singular present tense of the English verb dampen. The verb dampen has two principal senses. The literal sense means to make something damp or slightly wet, as when you dampen a cloth or dampen soil with moisture. The figurative sense means to lessen the strength, intensity, or effect of something, for example dampening enthusiasm or dampening a reaction. The term can apply to both materials and non-material phenomena.

In technical and scientific writing, dampening refers to processes or mechanisms that reduce oscillations, vibrations, or fluctuations. A damper or damping device reduces amplitude; verbs such as dampens are used to describe these actions, for example “the controller dampens the vibration of the system” or “rain dampens the crowd’s enthusiasm.” The noun form damping is more common for the phenomenon, while dampening is sometimes used as an alternative.

Etymology: dampen is formed from the adjective damp with the suffix -en and has been used in English for centuries to denote making something damp or reducing intensity.

See also damp, dampness, dampening, damping.