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Attenuate vs Damp - What's the difference?

attenuate | damp |

In transitive terms the difference between attenuate and damp

is that attenuate is to rarefy while damp is to suppress vibrations (mechanical) or oscillations (electrical) by converting energy to heat (or some other form of energy).

As a noun damp is

moisture; humidity; dampness.

As an abbreviation DAMP is

Deficits in Attention, Motor coordination and Perception.

attenuate

English

Verb

(attenuat)
  • To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree.
  • * 1874 , , Far From the Madding Crowd , ch. 40:
  • A manor-house clock from the far depths of shadow struck the hour, one, in a small, attenuated tone.
  • To make thinner, as by physically reshaping, starving, or decaying.
  • * 1899 , , His New Mittens , ch. 4:
  • Clumps of attenuated turkeys were suspended here and there.
  • * 1906 , , The Malefactor , ch. 1:
  • Lovell, wan and hollow-eyed, his arm in a sling, his once burly frame gaunt and attenuated with disease, nodded.
  • To weaken.
  • * Coleridge
  • The attention attenuates as its sphere contracts.
  • * Sir F. Palgrave
  • We may reject and reject till we attenuate history into sapless meagreness.
  • To rarefy.
  • * 1901 , , The First Men in the Moon , ch. 23:
  • "It speedily became apparent that the entire strangeness of our circumstances and surroundings—great loss of weight, attenuated but highly oxygenated air, consequent exaggeration of the results of muscular effort, rapid development of weird plants from obscure spores, lurid sky—was exciting my companion unduly."
  • (medicine) To reduce the virulence of a bacteria or virus.
  • (electronics) To reduce the amplitude of an electrical signal.
  • Antonyms

    * amplify (electronics)

    Derived terms

    * attenuation * attenuable

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (botany, of leaves) Gradually tapering into a petiole-like extension toward the base.
  • ----

    damp

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Being in a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist.
  • :* O'erspread with a damp sweat and holy fear -
  • The lawn was still damp so we decided not to sit down.
    The paint is still damp , so please don't touch it.
  • (obsolete) Pertaining to or affected by noxious vapours; dejected, stupified.
  • * 1667 , John Milton, Paradise Lost , Book 1, ll. 522-3:
  • All these and more came flocking; but with looks / Down cast and damp .

    Synonyms

    * (l) * (l)/(l)

    Derived terms

    * dampen * dampness

    See also

    *

    Noun

  • Moisture; humidity; dampness.
  • (archaic) Fog; fogginess; vapor.
  • * Milton
  • Night with black air / Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom.
  • (archaic) Dejection or depression.
  • * Joseph Addison
  • Even now, while thus I stand blest in thy presence, / A secret damp of grief comes o'er my soul.
  • * J. D. Forbes
  • It must have thrown a damp over your autumn excursion.
  • (archaic, or, historical, mining) A gaseous product, formed in coal mines, old wells, pits, etc.
  • Derived terms

    * afterdamp * blackdamp * chokedamp * damp sheet * firedamp * stinkdamp * whitedamp

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (archaic) To dampen; to render damp; to moisten; to make humid, or moderately wet; as, to damp cloth.
  • (archaic) To put out, as fire; to depress or deject; to deaden; to cloud; to check or restrain, as action or vigor; to make dull; to weaken; to discourage.
  • To suppress vibrations (mechanical) or oscillations (electrical) by converting energy to heat (or some other form of energy).
  • :* To damp your tender hopes -
  • :* Usury dulls and damps all industries, improvements, and new inventions, wherein money would be stirring if it were not for this slug -
  • :* How many a day has been damped and darkened by an angry word! -
  • :* The failure of his enterprise damped the spirit of the soldiers. -
  • :* Hollow rollers damp vibration. - [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3238/is_200004/ai_n7935204]
  • Anagrams

    * ----