silent

American  

[sahy-luhnt] / ˈsaɪ lənt /

adjective

1. making no sound; quiet; still.

   a silent motor.

   Synonyms:

   soundless

   Antonyms:

   noisy

2. refraining from speech.

3. speechless; mute.

4. not inclined to speak; taciturn; reticent.

   Antonyms:

   talkative

5. characterized by absence of speech or sound.

   a silent prayer.

6. unspoken; tacit.

   a silent assent.

7. omitting mention of something, as in a narrative.

   The records are silent about this crime.

8. inactive or quiescent, as a volcano.

   Synonyms:

   dormant

9. not sounded or pronounced.

   The “b” in “doubt” is a silent letter.

10. Movies. not having spoken dialogue or a soundtrack.

11. Medicine/Medical. producing no symptoms.

    silent gallstones.

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noun

1. Usually silents. silent films.

silent British  

/ ˈsaɪlənt /

adjective

1. characterized by an absence or near absence of noise or sound

   a silent house

2. tending to speak very little or not at all

3. unable to speak

4. failing to speak, communicate, etc, when expected

   the witness chose to remain silent

5. not spoken or expressed

   silent assent

6. not active or in operation

   a silent volcano

7. (of a letter) used in the conventional orthography of a word but no longer pronounced in that word

   the ``k'' in ``know'' is silent

8. denoting a film that has no accompanying soundtrack, esp one made before 1927, when such soundtracks were developed

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noun

1. a silent film

silent Scientific  

/ sī′lənt /

1. Relating to a mutation that changes a nucleotide in a codon without a difference in the amino acid for which it is coded.

2. See more at point mutation

3. Producing no detectable signs or symptoms, as a medical condition such as heart attack.

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Related Words

See still ¹.

Other Word Forms

• oversilent adjective
• oversilently adverb
• oversilentness noun
• silently adverb
• silentness noun
• supersilent adjective
• supersilently adverb
• unsilent adjective
• unsilently adverb

Etymology

Origin of silent

First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin silent-, stem of silēns “being quiet,” present participle of silēre “to be quiet”; akin to Old English sālnes “silence”

Example Sentences

“No, I think I’ll keep her,” he said, as Leavitt chittered nervously off-camera, before falling silent.

From Salon • Apr. 3, 2026

Numbers were once even greater - after a devastating famine in the mid-1990s triggered what rights groups described as a silent exodus over a more porous border with China.

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026

Shah had remained silent publicly since his RSP party won the election in a landslide, winning a commanding majority of 182 in the 275-seat House of Representatives.

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

“Or to remain silent forever to avoid inadvertently speaking in the voice of the beast.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

Everyone was silent, waiting to see what she would do.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

Related Words

• hushed
• mum
• mute
• restrained
• reticent