| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | cushion something's effect |
| Synonyms: | diminish, lessen, lighten, moderate, reduce, soften, weaken |
| Notes: | to brake is to slow or stop while break is to cause to separate into pieces suddenly or violently, smash or crack |
| Main Entry: | compromise |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | put in jeopardy |
| Synonyms: | blight, cop out, discredit, dishonor, embarrass, endanger, explode, expose, give in, hazard, imperil, implicate, jeopardize, mar, menace, peril, prejudice, put under suspicion, risk, ruin, sell out, spoil, weaken |
| Antonyms: | guard, protect, save |
| Main Entry: | contract |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | condense |
| Synonyms: | abate, abbreviate, abridge, become smaller, clench, compress, confine, constrict, consume, curtail, decline, decrease, deflate, draw in, dwindle, ebb, edit, epitomize, evaporate, fall away, fall off, grow less, lessen, lose, narrow, omit, purse, recede, reduce, shrink, shrivel, subside, syncopate, take in, tighten, wane, waste, weaken, wither, wrinkle |
| Notes: | a compact is a formal agreement on rights and conduct, a treaty is a compact between nations, and a contract is a compact between two business entities |
| Antonyms: | amplify, dilate, enlarge, expand, extend, increase, lengthen, spread, stretch |
| Main Entry: | contract |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | catch disease |
| Synonyms: | acquire, afflict, be afflicted with, be ill with, become infected with, bring on, cause, come down with, decline, derange, develop, disorder, fall, fall victim to, get, go down with, incur, indispose, induce, obtain, sicken, sink, succumb to, take, take one's death, upset, weaken |
| Notes: | a compact is a formal agreement on rights and conduct, a treaty is a compact between nations, and a contract is a compact between two business entities |
| Antonyms: | give |
| Main Entry: | cripple |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | disable; make lame |
| Synonyms: | attenuate, blunt, debilitate, disarm, dislimb, dismember, enfeeble, hamstring, hurt, immobilize, incapacitate, injure, lame, maim, mangle, mutilate, palsy, paralyze, prostrate, sap, sideline, stifle, undermine, unstrengthen, weaken |
| Antonyms: | aid, assist, enable, help, strengthen, support |
| Main Entry: | damage |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | cause injury, loss |
| Synonyms: | abuse, bang up, batter, bleach, blight, break, burn, contaminate, corrode, corrupt, crack, cripple, deface, defile, dirty, discolor, disfigure, disintegrate, dismantle, fade, gnaw, harm, hurt, impair, incapacitate, infect, injure, lacerate, maim, maltreat, mangle, mar, mutilate, pollute, ravage, rot, ruin, rust, scathe, scorch, scratch, smash, split, spoil, stab, stain, tamper with, tarnish, tear, undermine, vitiate, weaken, wear away, wound, wreak havoc on, wreck, wrong |
| Antonyms: | benefit, bless, enhance, favor, fix, improve, mend, perfect, repair |
| Main Entry: | deaden |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | diminish, muffle, quiet |
| Synonyms: | KO, abate, alleviate, anesthetize, benumb, blunt, check, chloroform, consume, cushion, damp, dampen, depress, deprive, desensitize, destroy, devitalize, dim, dope, drown, dull, etherize, exhaust, freeze, frustrate, gas, hush, impair, incapacitate, injure, knock out, lay out, lessen, mute, numb, paralyze, put out of order, put to sleep, quieten, reduce, repress, retard, slow, smother, soften, stifle, stun, stupefy, suppress, tire, tone down, unnerve, weaken |
| Antonyms: | animate, build, enliven, increase, strengthen |
| Main Entry: | debase |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | degrade, shame |
| Synonyms: | abase, bemean, cast down, cheapen, corrupt, cripple, debauch, debilitate, demean, demoralize, deprave, devaluate, devalue, disable, disgrace, dishonor, drag down, dump on, enfeeble, fluff off, humble, humiliate, lower, put away, put down, reduce, sap, shoot down, sink, take down a peg, take down, undermine, weaken |
| Antonyms: | elevate, honor, laud, praise, upgrade, value |
| Main Entry: | debilitate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | incapacitate |
| Synonyms: | attenuate, blunt, cripple, devitalize, disable, enervate, enfeeble, eviscerate, exhaust, extenuate, harm, hurt, injure, mar, prostrate, relax, sap, spoil, unbrace, undermine, unstrengthen, weaken, wear out |
| Antonyms: | aid, assist, cure, energize, help, invigorate, mend, strengthen |