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Using this word to refer to people without speech is considered outdated and offensive, and should be avoided.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.
Her haunting period piece “The Piano,” about a deaf-mute woman in 19th century New Zealand, won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1993, becoming the first film directed by a woman to do so.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2017
A more sentimental heart would have experienced curiosity or sympathy for the girl whom she had replaced; a more inventive mind would have seen herself as that deaf-mute, growing up in silence.
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
Meanwhile, a deaf-mute wrestler from Delhi has shown that disability cannot come in the way of courage and achievement, reports .
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2013
I am a deaf-mute, but I read the lips and understand what is said to me.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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.
