deadening

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of deaden

   “Until, of course, the war and its aftermath came to lay their deadening hand on all railway progress.”

   “So, how are we going to persuade the current government that command-and-control is a deadening leadership style which can never deliver the financial results of a liberated rail industry?”

noun

1. The process by which something is deadened.

   “The structural theory doesn't only focus on the negations, repressions, disavowals, and deadenings of the ego in the face of its encounters within and without.”

2. A forest clearing created by girdling the trees.