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mute

[myoot]
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adjective, mut·er, mut·est.
  1. silent; refraining from speech or utterance.
  2. not emitting or having sound of any kind.
  3. incapable of speech; dumb.
  4. (of letters) silent; not pronounced.
  5. 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).
  6. Fox Hunting. (of a hound) hunting a line without giving tongue or cry.
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noun
  1. Offensive. a person incapable of speech.
  2. an actor whose part is confined to dumb show.
  3. Law. a person who stands mute when arraigned.
  4. Also called sordino. a mechanical device of various shapes and materials for muffling the tone of a musical instrument.
  5. Phonetics. a stop.
  6. British Obsolete. a hired mourner at a funeral; a professional mourner.
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verb (used with object), mut·ed, mut·ing.
  1. to deaden or muffle the sound of.
  2. to reduce the intensity of (a color) by the addition of another color.
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Origin of mute

1325–75; < Latin mūtus dumb; replacing Middle English muet < Middle French, equivalent to Old French mu (< Latin mūtus) + unexplained suffix -et; cf. -et
Related formsmute·ly, adverbmute·ness, noun
Can be confusedmoot mute

Antonyms

1. talkative.

Usage note

See dumb.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for muteness

Historical Examples

  • Rhoda, with a sign, tempered him to muteness, and the three eyed one another.

    Rhoda Fleming, Complete

    George Meredith

  • So, in her muteness, Esther accepts the Brandon God and people as hers.

    Red as a Rose is She

    Rhoda Broughton

  • Fleda paid this statement the homage of a minute's muteness.

  • Plunged in their discussions, the others were a long while in remarking his muteness.

    Pierre and Luce

    Romain Rolland

  • By these last words Edward Henry was confounded, even to muteness.

    The Regent

    E. Arnold Bennett

British Dictionary definitions for muteness

mute1

adjective
  1. not giving out sound or speech; silent
  2. unable to speak; dumb
  3. unspoken or unexpressedmute dislike
  4. law (of a person arraigned on indictment) refusing to answer a charge
  5. phonetics another word for plosive
  6. (of a letter in a word) silent
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noun
  1. a person who is unable to speak
  2. law a person who refuses to plead when arraigned on indictment for an offence
  3. any of various devices used to soften the tone of stringed or brass instruments
  4. phonetics a plosive consonant; stop
  5. a silent letter
  6. an actor in a dumb show
  7. a hired mourner at a funeral
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verb (tr)
  1. to reduce the volume of (a musical instrument) by means of a mute, soft pedal, etc
  2. to subdue the strength of (a colour, tone, lighting, etc)
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Derived Formsmutely, adverbmuteness, noun

Word Origin

C14: muwet from Old French mu, from Latin mūtus silent

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

mute2

verb
  1. (of birds) to discharge (faeces)
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noun
  1. birds' faeces
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Word Origin

C15: from Old French meutir, variant of esmeltir, of Germanic origin; probably related to smelt 1 and melt
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for muteness

n.

1580s, from mute (adj.) + -ness.

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mute

adj.

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.

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mute

v.

"deaden the sound of," 1861, from mute (n.). Related: Muted; muting.

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mute

n.

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.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
muteness in Medicine

mute

(myōōt)
adj.
  1. Unable or unwilling to speak.
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n.
  1. One who does not have the faculty of speech. No longer in technical use; considered offensive.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.