mute
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.
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.
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.
Origin of mute
1usage note For mute
Opposites for mute
Other words from mute
- mute·ly, adverb
- mute·ness, noun
Words that may be confused with mute
- moot, mute
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use mute in a sentence
As Fresno officials would later allege, he had made the girl wear a long-haired wig at the Fresno airport, and to act as if she had a disability and was mute so she wouldn’t speak with anyone else.
With children stuck at home during coronavirus shutdowns, online sexual predators can swoop in | Dan Morse | February 5, 2021 | Washington PostThe smart bet on the SEC historically has been, name the issue, and the response will be muted.
GameStop frenzy leaves behind a mess for Wall Street regulators | Tory Newmyer, David J. Lynch | February 3, 2021 | Washington PostI mean, I am who I am, but I’ve kept a part of me muted, and it’s been stifling.
The way the program works is that people log on at noon, put their devices on mute and belt out the song picked by the musician that day.
The incredible story of how 1,700 handwritten cards came from across the world for a group of D.C. hospital workers | Theresa Vargas | January 27, 2021 | Washington PostMore than anything else, their noise-cancelling quality is excellent, muting lower-frequency rumbles and, to a lesser-but-still-impressive extent, higher-pitched tones alike.
Sony’s best noise-cancelling headphones are down to their lowest price today | Ars Staff | January 26, 2021 | Ars Technica
Joel Osteen wants to talk about muting your cell phone at the dinner table.
Great eyebrows overhung his face, like ivy on a pollard oak, and under them two large brown eyes, as of an owl when muting.
Lorna Doone | R. D. BlackmoreThough there was no cottony mist as had enclosed them the night before, there was an odd muting of sea and sky, limiting vision.
Key Out of Time | Andre Alice NortonA continuous mute is a strip of muting felt of the proper thickness to be pushed in between the trios of strings.
Piano Tuning | J. Cree Fischer
British Dictionary definitions for mute (1 of 2)
/ (mjuːt) /
not giving out sound or speech; silent
unable to speak; dumb
unspoken or unexpressed: mute 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)
Origin of mute
1usage For mute
Derived forms of mute
- mutely, adverb
- muteness, noun
British Dictionary definitions for mute (2 of 2)
/ (mjuːt) archaic /
(of birds) to discharge (faeces)
birds' faeces
Origin of mute
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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