lessen
Make more manageable
To lessen is to make or become smaller in amount, degree, or intensity.
Pain lessens, fears lessen, tensions lessen.
You can lessen your burden by delegating tasks, or lessen the impact of bad news by delivering it gently: Time lessened the sting of rejection.
The word implies gradual reduction rather than sudden elimination.
Decrease gradually over time
- waneDecrease gradually
- ebbGradual retreat seaward
- fadeLose intensity gradually
- taperNarrow gradually toward point
subside · recede · drop · fall · slump · sink · shrivel · atrophy
Become or make smaller
minimize · curtail · downsize · pare · trim · slash · scale back · cut back
abate
Lessen in intensity
cool · relax · ease · settle · slacken · lull · pacify · tone down · defuse · mellow
dwindle
Decrease gradually over time
taper · subside · recede · drop · fall · slump · sink · shrivel · atrophy · wither
decrease
Become or make smaller
shrink · minimize · curtail · downsize · pare · trim · slash · scale back · cut back · de-escalate
diminish
To make smaller
dampen · temper · soften · dull · mute · undermine · erode · sap · impair · undercut
relieve
Lessen pain or burden
assuage · palliate · comfort · remedy · heal · cure · ameliorate · salve · mitigate · mollify
- declinesdrop, decline, downtrend, downturn, downfall
- lightenbrighten, bleach, fade, whiten, illuminate
- declinedecline, in decline, decrease, downswing, on the decline
- diminishingabate, decrease, diminish, dwindle, ebb
- Reduceshrink, diminish, decrease, reduce, lower
- reduce/lessenreduce, shrink, decrease, diminish, cut
- less thanBelow in amount
- more or lessApproximately, not exactly
- couldn't care lessComplete absence of concern
- could not care lessTotal absence of interest
- less and lessIn diminishing amounts
- swimming lessonsTraining to move through water