toning (down)

verb

present participle of tone (down)
as in tapering (off)

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for toning (down)
  1. decreasing
  2. muffling
  3. blunting
  4. reducing
Verb
  • Academics and researchers have proposed a wide variety of causes for the crisis, like changes in the economy, decreasing social connections, access to firearms, and the pandemic.
    — Darius Tahir, CBS News, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Overall sales have been on a downward trend since the gallery’s founding, decreasing by about 40 percent over the past three years.
    — News Desk, Artforum, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of decreasing
Verb
  • The actress wears a toasty-looking fur hat and sits cross-legged on the floor, the Canadian road traffic muffling her voice slightly.
    — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Patmos would divide the open warehouse space into smaller rooms, add pipes and support infrastructure and install sound-muffling materials.
    — Ilana Arougheti June 26, Kansas City Star, 26 June 2026
Definition of muffling
Verb
  • The law is aimed at blunting financial scams that often target older adults, which frequently include prompting victims to withdraw large sums of money at once.
    — Seth Klamann, Denver Post, 12 Aug. 2026
  • Semaglutide can hook into this system, blunting the usual pleasure from eating high-fat and sugary treats.
    — Jesse Pines, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of blunting
Verb
  • Recently, the sector has been affected by El Nino, which brings weak monsoons and dry weather, reducing yields and sucrose recovery.
    — Priyanka Salve, CNBC, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Other options include reducing the level of your contributions, although there is a minimum of 5% of pay for employees and 3% for employers.
    — Marc Shoffman, TheWeek, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of reducing
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

toning
toning (down)
toning (up)
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Cite this Entry

“Toning (down).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/toning%20%28down%29. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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