deafening meaning: definition, quotations

deafening

adj

UK /ˈdɛfənɪŋ(ɡ)/

Loud enough to cause temporary or permanent hearing loss.

At that instant, Eragon's back ruptured in an explosion of agony so intense, he experienced it with all five senses: as a deafening, crashing waterfall of sound; a metallic taste that coated his tongue; an acrid, eye-watering stench in his nostrils, redolent of vinegar; pulsing colors; and, above all, the feeling that Durza had just laid open his back.2005, Christopher Paolini, “The Nature of Evil”, in Eldest, page 372:
But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:

Excessive Very loud.

At the end of a frantic first 45 minutes, there was still time for Charlie Adam to strike the bar from 20 yards before referee Atkinson departed to a deafening chorus of jeering from Everton's fans.2011 October 1, Phil McNulty, “Everton 0 - 2 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport:

noun

The process by which something is deafened.

Film and dance theory offer a productive vocabulary for considering the effects of these mutings and deafenings.2012, Gary Taylor, Trish Thomas Henley, The Oxford Handbook of Thomas Middleton, page 338: