From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
lessening \lessening\ adjective becoming less in dimension or degree; as, the lessening distance between us. [WordNet 1.5]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
lessening \lessening\ n. a change downward; a decrease; a reduction.
Syn: decrease, drop-off. [WordNet 1.5]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Lessen \Less"en\ (l[e^]s"'n), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Lessened} (-'nd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Lessening}.] [From {Less}, adjective] To make less; to reduce; to make smaller, or fewer; to diminish; to lower; to degrade; as, to lessen a kingdom, or a population; to lessen speed, rank, fortune.
Charity . . . shall lessen his punishment. --Calamy.
St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it. --Atterbury.
Syn: To diminish; reduce; abate; decrease; lower; impair; weaken; degrade.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a change downward; "there was a decrease in his temperature as the fever subsided"; "there was a sharp drop-off in sales" [syn: {decrease}, {drop-off}] [ant: {increase}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
111 Moby Thesaurus words for "lessening": abatement, abating, abridgment, allaying, allayment, alleviating, alleviation, analgesia, anesthesia, anesthetizing, appeasement, assuagement, assuaging, attenuation, attrition, blunting, calming, chastening, contraction, contractive, curtailment, cushioning, cut, cutting, dampening, damping, deadening, declining, decrease, decreasing, decrement, decrescence, decrescendo, decrescent, deduction, deflation, deliquescent, demulsion, depletion, depreciation, depression, derogation, detraction, diminishing, diminishment, diminuendo, diminution, dip, disparagement, dulcification, dulling, dwindling, dying, dying off, ease, easement, easing, extenuation, extraction, fade-out, falling-off, hushing, impairment, languishing, languishment, leniency, letdown, letup, lightening, loosening, lowering, lulling, miniaturization, mitigating, mitigation, modulation, mollification, numbing, on the wane, pacification, palliation, quietening, quieting, reducing, reduction, reductive, relaxation, relaxing, relief, remedy, remission, retraction, retrenchment, sagging, salving, scaling down, shortening, shrinkage, simplicity, slackening, softening, soothing, subduement, subduing, subsiding, subtraction, tempering, tranquilization, truncation, waning, weakening
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