deaf-mute
Americanadjective
noun
noun
adjective
Sensitive Note
See dumb.
Usage
Using this word to refer to people without speech is considered outdated and offensive, and should be avoided. The phrase profoundly deaf is a suitable alternative in many contexts
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of deaf-mute
First recorded in 1830–40; translation of French sourd-muet
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.
A young servant fleeing from his master takes refuge at a dysfunctional convent in medieval Tuscany, disguising himself as a deaf-mute.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2021
The mother was illiterate, and Sajid was deaf-mute, and had never had any education.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 31, 2018
Bella had come later, another baby girl whose beauty was prominent, and this truth, like the story of the deaf-mute, had never been kept a secret from her.
From The New Yorker ● May 1, 2017
In their prime, as bath lore has it, they were a hangout for gangsters who talked business in the saunas and so preferred deaf-mute masseurs.
From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2016
I knew the part about pretending I was a deaf-mute was crazy, but I liked thinking about it anyway.
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
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.
