silent
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
engineering
genetics
medicine
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
technology
Etymology: From Latin silēns (“silent”), present participle of sileō (“be silent”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyl- (“still, windless, quiet, slow”). Related to Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌽 (anasilan, “to cease, grow still, be silent”), Old English sālnes (“silence”).
Inflected forms:
form: silenter
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: more silent
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: silentest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: most silent
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: scilent
pos: adj
tags: alternative
hypercorrect
obsolete
form: silents
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: scilent
pos: noun
tags: alternative
hypercorrect
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
The voice of the auctioneer is slow and low […]; after a pause, which seems no silenter than the rest of the transaction, he ceases to repeat the bids, and his fish, in the measure of a bushel or so, have gone for a matter of three shillings.
gloss: Not speaking; indisposed to talk; speechless; mute; taciturn; not loquacious; not talkative.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
gloss: Keeping at rest; inactive; calm; undisturbed.
pos: adj
examples: The winds were silent, all the waves asleep, / And heaven was trac'd upon the flattering deep
gloss: Not pronounced; having no sound; quiescent.
pos: adj
examples: The e is silent in fable.
Silent letters can make some words difficult to spell.
The l in the English word salmon is silent.
gloss: Having no effect; not operating; inefficient.
pos: adj
examples: Cause […] silent, virtueless, and dead.
gloss: With the sound turned off; usually on silent or in silent mode.
pos: adj
examples: My phone was on silent.
gloss: Without audio capability.
pos: adj
examples: The Magnavox Odyssey was a silent console.
gloss: Hidden, unseen.
pos: adj
examples: a silent voter; a silent partner
gloss: Of an edit or change to a text, not explicitly acknowledged.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
gloss: Not implying significant modifications which would affect a peptide sequence.
pos: adj
gloss: Undiagnosed or undetected because of an absence of symptoms.
pos: adj
gloss: Of distilled spirit: having no flavour or odour.
pos: adj
gloss: That which is silent; a time of silence.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night.
gloss: A silent movie
pos: noun
examples: 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.
Synonyms: taciturn
mute
still
invisible
occluded
silent
silential
noiseless
soundless
Antonyms: loud
noisy
unsilent
nonsilent
Related words: silence
silentiary
silentious
anechoic
asonant
inaudible
echoless
obmutescent
mum
mumchance
nonvocal
speechless
shtoom
voiceless
whist
wordless
tongueless
tuneless
clickless
songless
musicless
make silent
taciturn
Derived words: be silent
fall silent
immunosilent
nonsilent
on silent
oversilent
phosphosilent
pseudosilent
radio silent
right to remain silent
serosilent
silent agitator
silent alarm
silent as a grave
silent as the grave
silent as the tomb
silent auction
silent barter
silent but deadly
silent butler
silent-but-violent
silent cinema
silent commerce
silent cop
silent disco
silent e
silent fart
silent film
silent forest syndrome
silent fox
silent fox gesture
Silent Grove
silent h
silentish
silent key
silent killer
silent listing
silently
silent majority
silent miscarriage
silent mode
silent mutation
silentness
silent number
silent partner
silent picture
silent policeman
silent Sam
Silent Sam
silent service
silent treatment
Silent Valley
silent vote
silent whistle
strong silent type
ultrasilent
unsilent
Translations: