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silence

noun
/ˈsaɪl(ə)ns/UK/ˈsaɪləns/US

Etymology

From Middle English silence, from Old French silence, from Latin silentium (“silence”), from silēns (“quiet, silent”, present participle of silēre) + -ium. Displaced native Old English swīġe and sālnes.

  1. derived from silentium — “silence”
  2. derived from silence
  3. inherited from silence

Definitions

  1. The absence of any sound.

    • When the motor stopped, the silence was almost deafening.
    • Words like violence break the silence / Come crashing in into my little world
    • deadly silence

  2. The act of refraining from speaking.

    • "You have the right to silence," said the police officer.
    • 1832, Daniel Webster, "a convention", quoted in The History of the Union, and of the Constitution by Charles Chauncey Burr The administration itself keeps a profound silence.

  3. Refraining from speaking, for purposes of prayer or meditation

    Refraining from speaking, for purposes of prayer or meditation; especially, a form of worship practiced by the Society of Friends (Quakers) during meetings.

    • During silence a message came to me that there was that of God in every person.
  4. ›+ 7 more definitions

    1. To make (someone or something) silent.

      • Can you silence the crowd, so we can start the show?

    2. To repress the expression of something.

      • Women, as well as children, have their thoughts or emotions routinely silenced.

    3. To suppress criticism, etc.

      • Silence the critics.
      • Silence the doubters.

    4. To block gene expression.

    5. To murder.

      • They, and others through the years, believed Ruby must have acted on his own since there was no logic to the supposition that anyone could trust an uncontrollable, unreliable loudmouth like Ruby to silence Oswald.

    6. Be silent.

      • Silence! Enough of your insolence!
      • (in response to laughter from the audience) Silence! I kill you!

    7. A female given name from English.

The neighborhood

Derived

argument from silence, blue code of silence, blue wall of silence, break silence, break the silence, code of silence, cone of silence, conspiracy of silence, dead silence, deafening silence, in silence, moment of silence, nonsilence right to silence, pact of silence, radio silence, silence camp, silence is consent, silence is golden, silence is oppression, silence is violence, speech is silver, silence is golden, suffer in silence, tower of silence, two-minute silence, wall of silence, desilence, nonsilencing, outsilence, resilence, silenceable, silencer, unsilence

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at silence. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01silence02meditation03exercise04ability05suitableness06accommodated07accommodate08reconcile09balance10calmness

A definitional loop anchored at silence. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at silence

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA