voiceless
Americanadjective
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having no voice; mute.
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uttering no words; silent.
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having an unmusical voice.
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unspoken; unuttered.
voiceless sympathy.
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having no vote or right of choice.
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Phonetics. (of a speech sound)
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without voice; unvoiced; surd; aphonic (contrasted with voiced).
“p,” “f,” and “s” are voiceless.
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uttered without phonation.
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adjective
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without a voice; mute
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not articulated
voiceless misery
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lacking a musical voice
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silent
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without the power or right to express an opinion
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phonetics articulated without accompanying vibration of the vocal cords
in English (p) is a voiceless consonant
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of voiceless
Explanation
Someone who can't speak, either literally or figuratively, is voiceless. Your sore throat may leave you voiceless for a couple of days, and the youngest child in a family might feel voiceless when it comes to making to big family decisions. If you suffer from laryngitis, you're temporarily voiceless, unable to use your voice to speak. Someone who's mute, for a physical or psychological reason, is often permanently voiceless. It's also common to use this adjective for people so powerless that they're unable to express their needs or desires: "Women in that country have been voiceless for a long time, but that's finally beginning to change."
Vocabulary lists containing voiceless
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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.
Helen said the children who were conceived by sperm donors were "utterly voiceless at this point" and she and her sisters hoped to be "a voice of the implications that it has".
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
I had more trouble with voiceless consonants than voiced ones—one of the sample sentences for this type of SD reduced my voice to a whisper on nearly every syllable.
From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2026
Through Spear’s resurrection, “Primal” is quietly delivering a zombie drama that’s strangely life-affirming, led by a tenderhearted brute who is sensitive to the other voiceless, helpless beings around him.
From Salon ● Feb. 1, 2026
Which makes it all the more important to have elected leaders like Chu willing to put themselves on the front lines to give a voice to the truly, really voiceless.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2025
All about me was a deep intense silence, and in it I heard my prayer, voiceless, wordless, rising up and up endlessly like the incense which burnt perpetually upon the altar.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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.
