Silent
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈsaɪlənt/
Alternative forms
- scilent hyperâ€correct, obsolete
Origin
From Latin silÄ“nt-, silÄ“ns ("silent"), present participle of sileÅ ("be silent"), from Proto-Indo-European *seil- ("still, windless, quiet, slow"). Cognate with Gothic ðŒ°ðŒ½ðŒ°ðƒðŒ¹ðŒ»ðŒ°ðŒ½ (anasilan, "to cease, grow still, be silent"), Old English sÄlnes ("silence").
Full definition of silent
Adjective
silent
- Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet.
- 1604, William Shakespeare, Othello, act 5, sc. 1:How silent is this town!
- 1825, Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy, The Works of Samuel Johnson, Talboys and Wheeler, page 52:What was formerly performed by fleets and armies, by invasions, sieges, and battles, has been of late accomplished by more silent methods.
- 1906, William Dean Howells and Sidney Dillon Ripley, Certain Delightful English Towns: With Glimpses of the Pleasant Country Between, Harper & Brothers, page 152:The voice of the auctioneer is slow and low ...; after a pause, which seems no silenter than the rest of the transaction, he ceases to repeat the bids, and his fish, in the measure of a bushel or so, have gone for a matter of three shillings.
- Not speaking; indisposed to talk; speechless; mute; taciturn; not loquacious; not talkative.
- BroomeUlysses, adds he, was the most eloquent and most silent of men.
- MiltonThis new-created world, whereof in hell
Fame is not silent. - Keeping at rest; inactive; calm; undisturbed.The wind is silent.
- (pronunciation) Not pronounced; having no sound; quiescent.The e is silent in fable.
- Having no effect; not operating; inefficient.
- Sir Walter RaleighCause ... silent, virtueless, and dead.
- (technology) Without audio capability.The Magnavox Odyssey was a silent console.
- Hidden, unseen.a silent voter; a silent partner
Derived terms
Noun
silent
(plural silents)- (uncountable) That which is silent; a time of silence.
- The silent of the night. Shakespeare
- A silent movie
- 2007, August 12, Woody Allen, The Man Who Asked Hard Questions, All kinds, silents and talkies.