"damping" in the verb sense
1. muffle, mute, dull, damp, dampen, tone down
deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping
2. damp
restrain or discourage
"the sudden bad news damped the joyous atmosphere"
3. dampen, deaden, damp
make vague or obscure or make (an image) less visible
"muffle the message"
4. dampen, damp, soften, weaken, break
lessen in force or effect
"soften a shock"
"break a fall"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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