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# lessen

verb (lessen, lessens, lessened, lessening)

«lessen» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To make something smaller, weaker or less: to lessen pain, noise or danger. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lessen/#m1)
2. To become smaller, weaker or less. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lessen/#m2)

### In the lessons

Used in science and safety: «A helmet lessens the risk of a head injury», «Insulation lessens heat loss». In feelings: «Talking to a friend lessened her worry». In maths word problems it means a decrease. Phrases: «lessen the risk», «lessen the pain», «lessen the impact», «the wind lessened».

### Examples

- Wearing a helmet lessens the danger of hurting your head. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lessen/#x1)
- The medicine lessened the pain in my tooth. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lessen/#x2)
- The rain lessened, so we went outside. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lessen/#x3)
- Talking about it lessened my worry. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lessen/#x4)
- Planting trees can lessen flooding. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lessen/#x5)
- Turn the music down to lessen the noise. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lessen/#x6)
- The number of pupils with colds lessened after the holidays. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lessen/#x7)
- It thanked the Princess most heartily for her goodness, and said that its sufferings had already been greatly lessened. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lessen/#x8)

### Note

Regular verb: lessened, lessening. Homophone trap: «lessen» (to make less) sounds exactly like «lesson» (a period of teaching). In maths, «lessen by 5» means subtract 5: 20 lessened by 5 is 15. Formal-ish; everyday words are «reduce», «cut down», «ease».

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «lessen» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lessen/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«lessen» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/lessen.html) on Mova free.