silence

American  

[sahy-luhns] / ˈsaɪ ləns /

noun

1. absence of any sound or noise; stillness.

2. the state or fact of being silent; muteness.

3. absence or omission of mention, comment, or expressed concern.

   the conspicuous silence of our newspapers on local graft.

4. the state of being forgotten; oblivion.

   in the news again after years of silence.

5. concealment; secrecy.

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verb (used with object)

silenced, silencing

1. to put or bring to silence; still.

   Synonyms:

   gag, muzzle, quell, hush

2. to put (doubts, fears, etc.) to rest; quiet.

3. Military. to still (enemy guns), as by more effective fire.

interjection

1. be silent! “Silence!” the teacher shouted.

silence British  

/ ˈsaɪləns /

noun

1. the state or quality of being silent

2. the absence of sound or noise; stillness

3. refusal or failure to speak, communicate, etc, when expected

   his silence on the subject of their promotion was alarming

4. a period of time without noise

5. oblivion or obscurity

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verb

1. to bring to silence

2. to put a stop to; extinguish

   to silence all complaint

Other Word Forms

• oversilence noun
• unsilenced adjective

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.

Example Sentences

Kearns recognises that everyone deals with grief differently but stressed the importance of not "suffering in silence".

From BBC • Apr. 26, 2026

At the Whitehall service, Reverend Dr Lyndon Drake recited from The Fallen by poet Laurence Binyon before a Royal Marines Portsmouth Road Band trumpeter played the last post after which there was a one-minute silence.

From BBC • Apr. 25, 2026

When James hit the game-tying three, those wearing the Rockets’ red T-shirts stood in stunned silence.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 25, 2026

DeepSeek launched preview versions of its V4 model, ending months of silence from the Chinese AI lab.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

They walked the rest of the way in silence, Clare counting his steps, Gingersnipes scampering to keep up.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

Related Words

• cut off
• gag
• muffle
• mute
• muzzle
• quash
• quell
• squelch
• stifle
• subdue
• suppress