tamping down

Packing it tight

Tamping down is pressing or packing something more tightly, often with repeated light blows: tamping down the soil around the new plant, tamping down tobacco in a pipe.

Figuratively, it means suppressing or restraining something that threatens to grow or intensify: The administration tried tamping down expectations, She tamped down her rising anger.

Related

reining in · defusing · mitigating · subduing · compressing · pressing · quelling · dampening · calming · smoothing over · dialing back · regulating · packing · squelching · curbing · stifling · pounding · moderating

Categories
Opposites
physical compression

tamping downloosening

Reducing tightness or tension

fluffing up · aerating · loosening up · stirring up · fluffing

suppression/control of intensity

tamping downstirring up

Causing to activate

inflaming · stoking · fanning the flames · unleashing · letting loose

rhetorical/social diminishment

tamping downplaying up

Emphasizing excessively

hyping up · blowing up · sensationalizing · amplifying · publicizing

Family

tamp, tamped, tamper, tamping, tamps, down, downer, downs, downed

Familiarity
Top 200,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G