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

“This verdict exposes a culture of retaliation designed to silence officers who report misconduct, and it sends a powerful message that those who abuse authority will be held accountable,” McNicholas said.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 24, 2026

Jones struck a different tone Monday, with a broadcast on X showing him standing over an Infowars news anchor, shirtless, saying the Onion is trying to silence him.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

That first moment when you talk about Fisher dying after 34 days, the audience’s silence is profound.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

But, after all these long months of silence, even I found it hard to insist that we still did.

From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler

Related Words

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