silent
Americanadjective
-
making no sound; quiet; still.
a silent motor.
- Synonyms:
- soundless
- Antonyms:
- noisy
-
refraining from speech.
-
speechless; mute.
-
not inclined to speak; taciturn; reticent.
- Antonyms:
- talkative
-
characterized by absence of speech or sound.
a silent prayer.
-
unspoken; tacit.
a silent assent.
-
omitting mention of something, as in a narrative.
The records are silent about this crime.
-
inactive or quiescent, as a volcano.
- Synonyms:
- dormant
-
not sounded or pronounced.
The “b” in “doubt” is a silent letter.
-
Movies. not having spoken dialogue or a soundtrack.
-
Medicine/Medical. producing no symptoms.
silent gallstones.
noun
adjective
-
characterized by an absence or near absence of noise or sound
a silent house
-
tending to speak very little or not at all
-
unable to speak
-
failing to speak, communicate, etc, when expected
the witness chose to remain silent
-
not spoken or expressed
silent assent
-
not active or in operation
a silent volcano
-
(of a letter) used in the conventional orthography of a word but no longer pronounced in that word
the ``k'' in ``know'' is silent
-
denoting a film that has no accompanying soundtrack, esp one made before 1927, when such soundtracks were developed
noun
-
Relating to a mutation that changes a nucleotide in a codon without a difference in the amino acid for which it is coded.
-
See more at point mutation
-
Producing no detectable signs or symptoms, as a medical condition such as heart attack.
Related Words
See still 1.
Other Word Forms
- oversilent adjective
- oversilently adverb
- oversilentness noun
- silently adverb
- silentness noun
- supersilent adjective
- supersilently adverb
- unsilent adjective
- unsilently adverb
Etymology
Origin of silent
First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin silent-, stem of silēns “being quiet,” present participle of silēre “to be quiet”; akin to Old English sālnes “silence”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Carvalho, who is typically the public face of the school system, has been silent.
From Los Angeles Times
If the spirits stayed silent too long, the mortals regrouped with prayer and song.
From Literature
When Warner reached Porepunkah, desperate to help, it was silent but for the whirring of helicopters above, he said.
From BBC
The snowbank had, in effect, returned to being a silent snowbank.
From Literature
I had always known that my old hound had a beautiful voice, but I had never heard it ring like it did in that silent library.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
