Stultify

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Stultify \Stul"ti*fy\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stultified}; p. pr.
     & vb. n. {Stultifying}.] [L. stultus foolish + -fy.]
     1. To make foolish; to make a fool of; as, to stultify one by
        imposition; to stultify one's self by silly reasoning or
        conduct. --Burke.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. To regard as a fool, or as foolish. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The modern sciolist stultifies all understanding but
              his own, and that which he conceives like his own.
        --Hazlitt.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Law) To allege or prove to be of unsound mind, so that
        the performance of some act may be avoided.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  stultify
       v 1: prove to be of unsound mind or demonstrate someone's
            incompetence; "nobody is legally allowed to stultify
            himself"
       2: cause to appear foolish; "He stultified himself by
          contradicting himself and being inconsistent"
       3: deprive of strength or efficiency; make useless or
          worthless; "This measure crippled our efforts"; "Their
          behavior stultified the boss's hard work" [syn: {cripple}]
       [also: {stultified}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  77 Moby Thesaurus words for "stultify":
     annul, asphyxiate, befool, bottle up, bring to nothing, buffer,
     cancel, cancel out, censor, check, choke off, clamp down on,
     come to nothing, constipate, cork, cork up, counterbalance,
     crack down on, crush, damp down, deaden, discourage, drown, dull,
     dupe, enfeeble, extinguish, frustrate, gag, gull, hold down,
     impair, infatuate, inhibit, invalidate, jump on, keep down,
     keep under, kill, muzzle, negate, negativate, negative, neutralize,
     nullify, offset, pour water on, put down, put on, quash, quell,
     quench, repress, restrain, shut down on, silence, sit down on,
     sit on, smash, smother, squash, squelch, stagnate, stanch, stifle,
     strangle, stunt, subdue, suffocate, suppress, throttle, thwart,
     trammel, undo, vitiate, void, weaken