silence
Americannoun
-
silences
plural
-
absence of any sound or noise; stillness.
-
the state or fact of being silent; muteness.
-
absence or omission of mention, comment, or expressed concern.
the conspicuous silence of our newspapers on local graft.
-
the state of being forgotten; oblivion.
in the news again after years of silence.
-
concealment; secrecy.
verb (used with object)
-
silences,
present (3rd person singular)
-
silenced,
past participle, past
-
silencing
present participle
interjection
noun
-
the state or quality of being silent
-
the absence of sound or noise; stillness
-
refusal or failure to speak, communicate, etc, when expected
his silence on the subject of their promotion was alarming
-
a period of time without noise
-
oblivion or obscurity
verb
-
to bring to silence
-
to put a stop to; extinguish
to silence all complaint
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
silencesimple
-
silencessimple
-
have silencedperfect
-
has silencedperfect
-
am silencingprogressive
-
are silencingprogressive
-
is silencingprogressive
-
have been silencingperfect progressive
-
has been silencingperfect progressive
Past
-
silencedsimple
-
had silencedperfect
-
was silencingprogressive
-
were silencingprogressive
-
had been silencingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of silence
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English (noun), from Old French, from Latin silentium, derivative of silēre “to be quiet”; cf. silent
Explanation
Silence is quietness, or a lack of sound. When you silence a noisy movie-goer, you shush her. When there's silence, nothing is heard. Silence is empty, the opposite of a noisy racket. A library is one place where there's supposed to be silence so people can concentrate. To silence someone is to hush him up or tell him to be quiet. Silence also has a more disturbing meaning: if someone threatens you to keep you from saying something, she's trying to silence you. Censorship silences free speech.
Vocabulary lists containing silence
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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.
See Examples For:
The national anthem was then played, followed by around 16 minutes of silence before the regular programme resumed.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
"It's just radio silence from the airport, apart from literally telling people 'we've got an issue'".
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
But Grande does perpetuate a silence, complacency, and enabling by painting genuine concern as gossipy chatter.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
Miller’s former father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno, broke his long silence over the matter.
From Slate ● Aug. 8, 2026
A sudden silence had descended on the stable yard.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
His and Lissie's wedding pictures adorned the front pages, police forces and football clubs held minutes' silences and blue ribbons were displayed in his hometown of Wallingford.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
The company recently began clinical trials of a treatment that silences the genetic instructions for the Alzheimer’s tau protein.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
It suggests that no other irreversible power to immunize lurks in the Constitution’s silences.
From Slate ● May 26, 2026
The mixture of two pianos and harmonium creates a timbre that somehow manages to seem both eerie and comfortable, and the silences that surround the sounds are as important as the sounds themselves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
She grabs the phone first, silences it, and sticks it in her pocket.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
The researchers selectively silenced neurons associated with doublesex.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
There was the Jude Bellingham game, when his two goals for England silenced 80,000 fans in the Estadio Azteca.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
"But in Iran, they are more easily silenced."
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
Their impressive 4-1 demolition of Paraguay silenced a few doubters - and home reaction suggested the States is ready to become invested if their team do the business.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
But when Bo came running excitedly toward him, Barbarossa's wad of money in his hands, even Scipio was silenced.
From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke
“In the end that sacred project actually tends to produce sectarian narrowness, exclusion, uniformity, silencing, self-censorship, lack of debate, the negative sanctioning of nonconformists, and the debilitation of rigorous thought.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
"This constitutes a new and flagrant violation of all international laws and norms, and reflects a continued systematic policy of targeting journalists and silencing the voice of truth," it added.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
On this night, the mercenaries prevailed, in a pummeling so relentless and a silencing so rapid that a three-peat appeared all but inevitable: Dodgers 14, Blue Jays 2.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026
By systematically silencing genes, the scientists observed which ones had the greatest impact on slowing or stopping cancer cell growth.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 7, 2026
Ethyne held up her hand, silencing her uncle-in-law.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
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.
