silence
Americannoun
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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.
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the state of being forgotten; oblivion.
in the news again after years of silence.
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concealment; secrecy.
verb (used with object)
interjection
noun
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the state or quality of being silent
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the absence of sound or noise; stillness
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refusal or failure to speak, communicate, etc, when expected
his silence on the subject of their promotion was alarming
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a period of time without noise
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oblivion or obscurity
verb
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to bring to silence
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to put a stop to; extinguish
to silence all complaint
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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silencesimple
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silencessimple
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have silencedperfect
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has silencedperfect
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am silencingprogressive
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are silencingprogressive
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is silencingprogressive
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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
myPerspectives 7.2
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"Nadia the Willful"
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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.
The family is currently raising money to establish a foundation to support other survivors of sexual violence named Stronger than Silence.
From BBC • Jul. 1, 2026
Belli, who lives in Spain after the government stripped her of her Nicaraguan nationality in 2023, explores the theme of betrayal in her novel "A Silence Full of Whispers."
From Barron's • May 21, 2026
Amanda is enraptured with its aspirational luxury: “The house had that hush expensive houses do. Silence meant the house was plumb, solid, its organs working in happy harmony.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026
For fans of “The Silence of the Lambs,” the connection between the so-called Dr. Salazar and Hannibal Lecter is uncannily similar.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2026
Silence, called ma, is very important in Japanese music.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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.
