silence
Americannoun
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absence of any sound or noise; stillness.
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the state or fact of being silent; muteness.
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absence or omission of mention, comment, or expressed concern.
the conspicuous silence of our newspapers on local graft.
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the state of being forgotten; oblivion.
in the news again after years of silence.
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concealment; secrecy.
verb (used with object)
interjection
noun
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the state or quality of being silent
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the absence of sound or noise; stillness
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refusal or failure to speak, communicate, etc, when expected
his silence on the subject of their promotion was alarming
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a period of time without noise
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oblivion or obscurity
verb
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to bring to silence
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to put a stop to; extinguish
to silence all complaint
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have silencedperfect
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has silencedperfect 3rd person singular
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is silencingprogressive 3rd person singular
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am silencingprogressive 1st person singular
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have been silencingperfect progressive
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silencingparticiple
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silencessingular 3rd person
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are silencingprogressive
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has been silencingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
Past
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had silencedperfect
-
had been silencingperfect progressive
-
was silencingprogressive singular
-
silencedparticiple
-
were silencingprogressive plural
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silencedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of silence
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English (noun), from Old French, from Latin silentium, derivative of silēre “to be quiet”; cf. silent
Explanation
Silence is quietness, or a lack of sound. When you silence a noisy movie-goer, you shush her. When there's silence, nothing is heard. Silence is empty, the opposite of a noisy racket. A library is one place where there's supposed to be silence so people can concentrate. To silence someone is to hush him up or tell him to be quiet. Silence also has a more disturbing meaning: if someone threatens you to keep you from saying something, she's trying to silence you. Censorship silences free speech.
Vocabulary lists containing silence
myPerspectives 7.2
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Purple Hibiscus
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"Nadia the Willful"
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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.
Sometimes, Leonor said, she went to her mother’s house to avoid arguing with her husband, especially when he sat in silence, thinking.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 7, 2026
For more than 50 years, the agency’s gag rule bullied Americans into silence.
From Barron's • Jun. 3, 2026
"And now," he said, "the silence is what kills her."
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026
Oberhansley said the pool-maintenance company where she works can’t afford to give her a raise, and her search for a better-paying office job has run into rejections or silence.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 1, 2026
He knew he could trust me and my silence.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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.
