English Explanatory Dictionary

mute

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Not having the power of speech; dumb.
  2. Silent; not making a sound.
  3. Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; said of certain letters.
  4. Not giving a ringing sound when struck; said of a metal.
noun
  1. A stopped consonant; a stop.
  2. An actor who does not speak; a mime performer.
  3. A person who does not have the power of speech.
  4. A hired mourner at a funeral; an undertaker's assistant.
  5. An object for dulling the sound of an instrument, especially a brass instrument, or damper for pianoforte; a sordine.
  6. An electronic switch or control that mutes the sound.
  7. A mute swan.
  8. An action of muting, especially in a discussion forum as a penalty for breaking rules.
verb
  1. To silence, to make quiet.
  2. To turn off the sound of.
verb
  1. Of a bird: to defecate.
noun
  1. The faeces of a hawk or falcon.
verb
  1. To cast off; to moult.

Pronunciation

/mjuːt/ /mjʉwt/ myo͞ot /mjut/ en-us-mute.ogg /mɪu̯t/ /mjʉt/

Word forms

mute muter mutest mutes muting muted

Etymology

From Middle English muet, from Anglo-Norman muet, moet, Middle French muet, from mu (“dumb, mute”) + -et, remodelled after Latin mūtus.

Synonyms

aphonic aphonous dumb dumb as a post mumchance mute tongueless unspeaking voiceless occlusive plosive stop

Antonyms

audible nonmute talkative vocal voiced unmute

Related words

inarticulate inaudible semimute silence make silent dumb

Derived words

deaf-mute I'm mute mute as a mouse mute cornett mute e mute h mutely muteness mute of malice mute point mute swan mutism mutist mutistic nonmute palm mute selectively mute semimute mute cancel mute list plunger mute muteable muter
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on M Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary