lexicow

lessen

/ˈlesən//ˈlesən/·verb

make something smaller in amount, degree, or intensity

I watch someone on a bench crying hard — sad-browed, tears running, a grey heaviness sitting thick over their head — while the person pressed close beside them keeps an arm around their shoulders, patting slow and steady. Little by little the tears dry, the sobbing eases, and they straighten up; the grey thins to a faint smudge and a small, real smile breaks through. The sorrow has not been wiped away — that smudge stays — but it has been made to weigh far less.
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Definition

To lessen something is to make it smaller in amount, degree, or intensity — the plain, neutral 'make less'. You lessen the risk, the impact, the pain, the chance of failure: a measurable quantity simply goes down. It is the most everyday and least dramatic member of its family. Unlike mitigate, which counters or cushions a harmful effect, and unlike ease, which gently soothes something felt, lessen just reduces how much of something there is. It can also be intransitive — over time the pressure lessened on its own.

Examples

  • Wearing a helmet does not remove the danger, but it does lessen the risk of serious injury.
  • The new bypass should lessen the volume of traffic passing through the town centre.
  • Nothing could lessen her determination to finish the race.

Collocations

lessen the risk·lessen the impact·lessen the pain·lessen the burden·greatly lessen·lessen the likelihood

Synonyms

reduce·diminish·lower·ease·mitigate

Antonyms

increase·heighten·aggravate·intensify

Word family

lessening (noun)

In TOEFL & IELTS

A reliable, neutral verb for reduction, especially with abstract nouns: 'lessen the risk', 'lessen the impact', 'lessen the likelihood'. It is a workhorse in problem-solution and cause-effect writing, where a measure lessens a danger or a drawback. Keep it apart from its near-neighbours: lessen is the plain 'make less' of an amount, mitigate is to counter or limit a harmful effect (often preventively), and ease is to soothe something gradually. Lessen works both transitively (the policy lessened poverty) and intransitively (the pain lessened).