mute

[ myoot ]

/ myut /

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See synonyms for: mute / muted / mutely / muteness on Thesaurus.com

adjective, mut·er, mut·est.

silent; refraining from speech or utterance.

not emitting or having sound of any kind.

incapable of speech (offensive when applied to humans): Animals are mute and are only able to speak in fairy tales and fables.

(of letters) silent; not pronounced: The mute “e” in the word “dime” makes the preceding vowel long, so it is not pronounced like “dim.”

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.

noun

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. (especially in older use) stop (def. 34b).

British Obsolete. a hired mourner at a funeral; a professional mourner.

verb (used with object), mut·ed, mut·ing.

to deaden or muffle the sound of: The music was a little muted by distance and the trees.

to turn off (a microphone, a speaker, or audio):During the commercials, they muted the TV and discussed the game.Check the mic icon to make sure you're not muted.

to reduce the intensity of (a color) by the addition of another color.

to soften or subdue; moderate: His happiness about returning to the United States was muted by his concern for the other hostages.

OPPOSITES FOR mute

1 talkative.

See antonyms for mute on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

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Origin of mute

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English muet, mewet, muwet, from Old French müet, muet, diminutive formation of Old French mu, from Latin mūtus “dumb, inarticulate”; see -et

usage note for mute

See dumb.

OTHER WORDS FROM mute

mute·ly, adverbmute·ness, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH mute

moot, mute

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use mute in a sentence

That means, if you don’t have captions on your video, it’ll be skipped by anyone watching with the mute button on, which could be a sizable chunk of your target audience.
Top six reasons you should caption your social media video content|Molly Yurick|November 19, 2020|Search Engine Watch
“Mute me like you’ve muted the city of Detroit, go ahead and push the button,” he said.
For three hours, an obscure county board in Michigan was at the center of U.S. politics|Kayla Ruble, Tom Hamburger, David Fahrenthold|November 19, 2020|Washington Post
If you want it to, the watch can display your phone’s notifications to its screen, but it’s easy to mute that by pushing and holding the top right button.
This new workout watch can tell when you switch activities|Rob Verger|November 17, 2020|Popular-Science
Magashule, the man who usually communicates such decisions, was muted, quite literally, during the Zoom-hosted press conference in which Ramaphosa reported multiple changes to the party’s policy on corruption.
The Corruption Battle Shaping South Africa’s Future|Charu Kasturi|November 9, 2020|Ozy

The quality is often grainy, the audio is on mute, and the streams are, frankly, quite boring to watch.
Vote count livestreams are here to stay|Tanya Basu|November 4, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Around them on every side crept the mist in whose silver muteness they landed to gather white mushrooms.
Sinister Street, vol. 1|Compton Mackenzie
Henrietta could have bitten her tongue for laying her open to the censure implied in his muteness.
The Amazing Marriage, Complete|George Meredith
She turned abruptly away, and stood at a distance in gloomy muteness.
New Grub Street|George Gissing
For a day or two he persevered in his muteness, uttering a word only when it could not be avoided.
New Grub Street|George Gissing
But her muteness passed unnoticed, because for once in her life Miss Sabrina was voluble, her words tumbled over one another.
Jupiter Lights|Constance Fenimore Woolson

British Dictionary definitions for mute (1 of 2)

mute¹

/ (mjuːt) /

adjective

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

noun

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

verb (tr)

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)

Derived forms of mute

mutely, adverbmuteness, noun

Word Origin for mute

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

usage for mute

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

British Dictionary definitions for mute (2 of 2)

mute²

/ (mjuːt) archaic /

verb

(of birds) to discharge (faeces)

noun

birds' faeces

Word Origin for mute

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

mute

OPPOSITES FOR mute

Origin of mute

usage note for mute

OTHER WORDS FROM mute

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH mute

Words related to mute

How to use mute in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for mute (1 of 2)

Derived forms of mute

Word Origin for mute

usage for mute

British Dictionary definitions for mute (2 of 2)

Word Origin for mute