mute
- silent; refraining from speech or utterance.
- not emitting or having sound of any kind.
- incapable of speech; dumb.
- (of letters) silent; not pronounced.
- Law. (of a person who has been arraigned) making no plea or giving an irrelevant response when arraigned, or refusing to stand trial (used chiefly in the phrase to stand mute).
- Fox Hunting. (of a hound) hunting a line without giving tongue or cry.
- Offensive. a person incapable of speech.
- an actor whose part is confined to dumb show.
- Law. a person who stands mute when arraigned.
- Also called sordino. a mechanical device of various shapes and materials for muffling the tone of a musical instrument.
- Phonetics. a stop.
- British Obsolete. a hired mourner at a funeral; a professional mourner.
- to deaden or muffle the sound of.
- to reduce the intensity of (a color) by the addition of another color.
Origin of mute
Antonyms for mute
Usage note
Examples from the Web for mutely
Historical Examples of mutely
Mutely together they moved through the lonesome, odorous twilight.
PoemsWilliam D. Howells
Said, and mutely reproached him with all the pain she had wrought him.
PoemsWilliam D. Howells
Daman looked at them mutely and ardently, as if consumed by an unspeakable longing.
The RescueJoseph Conrad
I was not afraid, but my head swam a little and I only looked at him mutely.
The Arrow of GoldJoseph Conrad
When she noticed that Thornton was not eating or drinking she questioned him mutely with her eyes.
The Man Who WinsRobert Herrick
mute
1- not giving out sound or speech; silent
- unable to speak; dumb
- unspoken or unexpressedmute dislike
- law (of a person arraigned on indictment) refusing to answer a charge
- phonetics another word for plosive
- (of a letter in a word) silent
- a person who is unable to speak
- law a person who refuses to plead when arraigned on indictment for an offence
- any of various devices used to soften the tone of stringed or brass instruments
- phonetics a plosive consonant; stop
- a silent letter
- an actor in a dumb show
- a hired mourner at a funeral
- to reduce the volume of (a musical instrument) by means of a mute, soft pedal, etc
- to subdue the strength of (a colour, tone, lighting, etc)
Word Origin for mute
usage
mute
2- (of birds) to discharge (faeces)
- birds' faeces
Word Origin for mute
Word Origin and History for mutely
mute
late 14c., mewet "silent," from Old French muet "dumb, mute" (12c.), diminutive of mut, mo, from Latin mutus "silent, speechless, dumb," probably from imitative base *meue- (cf. Sanskrit mukah "dumb," Greek myein "to be shut," of the mouth). Form assimilated in 16c. to Latin mutus.
mute
mute
1570s, "stage actor in a dumb show;" 1610s as "person who does not speak," from mute (adj.). Musical sense first recorded 1811 of stringed instruments, 1841, of horns.
mute
(myōōt)- Unable or unwilling to speak.
- One who does not have the faculty of speech. No longer in technical use; considered offensive.