silent

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Free from sound or noise

   Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet.

   • How silent is this town!
   • What was formerly performed by fleets and armies, by invasions, sieges, and battles, has been of late accomplished by more silent methods.
2. 2

   Not speaking

   Not speaking; indisposed to talk; speechless; mute; taciturn; not loquacious; not talkative.

   • Ulysses, adds he, was the most eloquent and most silent of men.
   • This new-created world, whereof in hell / Fame is not silent.
   • Tothero is silent before replying. His great strength is in these silences; he has the disciplinarian's trick of waiting a long moment while his words gather weight.
3. 3

   Keeping at rest

   Keeping at rest; inactive; calm; undisturbed.

   • The winds were silent, all the waves asleep, / And heaven was trac'd upon the flattering deep
4. ›+ 13 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Not pronounced

      Not pronounced; having no sound; quiescent.

      • The e is silent in fable.
      • Silent letters can make some words difficult to spell.
      • The l in the English word salmon is silent.
   2. 5

      Having no effect

      Having no effect; not operating; inefficient.

      • Cause […] silent, virtueless, and dead.
   3. 6

      With the sound turned off

      With the sound turned off; usually on silent or in silent mode.

      • My phone was on silent.
   4. 7

      Without audio capability.

      • The Magnavox Odyssey was a silent console.
   5. 8

      Hidden, unseen.

      • a silent voter; a silent partner
   6. 9

      Of an edit or change to a text, not explicitly acknowledged.

      • silent revisions; a silent emendation
      • [T]he use of both acknowledged and unacknowledged (silent) translations of non-English sources makes it difficult for users to determine if a certain term genuinely appeared in an English-language text.
   7. 10

      Not implying significant modifications which would affect a peptide sequence.

   8. 11

      Undiagnosed or undetected because of an absence of symptoms.

   9. 12

      Of distilled spirit

      Of distilled spirit: having no flavour or odour.

   10. 13

       That which is silent

       That which is silent; a time of silence.

       • Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night.
   11. 14

       A silent movie

       • More than 40 films will be shown spanning the past seventy-five years, including early silents and talkies, contemporary productions, foreign and American films, documentaries, underground works and television shows.
   12. 15

       Acronym of syndrome of irreversible lithium-effectuated neurotoxicity.

   13. 16

       A member of the Silent Generation.

The neighborhood

• synonymtaciturn
• synonymmute
• synonymstill
• synonyminactive
• synonyminvisible
• synonymoccluded
• synonymhidden
• synonymsilent
• synonymsilential
• synonymnoiseless
• synonymsoundless
• antonymloud
• antonymnoisy
• antonymunsilent
• antonymnonsilent
• neighborsilence
• neighborsilentiary
• neighborsilentious
• neighboranechoic
• neighborasonant
• neighborinaudible
• neighborecholess
• neighborobmutescent
• neighbormum
• neighbormumchance
• neighbornonvocal
• neighborspeechless