mute

Formsmutes, muting, muted

Formsmuter, mutest

Pluralmutes

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To turn off or suppress the sound of a device or audio source.

   She muted her phone before the meeting began.

   Viewers can mute the broadcast with a single tap.

   Similarsilence

   Oppositeunmute

   Note

   The verb of the remote control and the phone, and it has a ready-made opposite: unmute. You mute the music, the television or the broadcast, and unmuting brings the sound back. Unlike the general verb 'to silence', it implies the sound is only switched off, not stilled.

2. 2
   adjective

   Silent and producing no sound.

   The audience fell mute when the lights suddenly dimmed.

   A mute sorrow showed plainly on her face.

   Similarsilent, speechless, wordless, quiet

   Oppositevocal, loud, noisy

   Note

   Here the silence is a choice or a moment, not an incapacity, and that is what separates it from the speechless meaning. It sits naturally after verbs like stand, remain and fall: in Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) the heavenly choir 'stood mute.' It can even be compared. Kaiser and Wilkins's translation of Lion Feuchtwanger addresses God as 'Thou mutest among all the mute.'

3. 3
   adjective

   Lacking the physical power of speech.

   He had been mute since childhood and relied on writing to communicate.

   Some patients remain mute for a time after a severe stroke.

   Similarvoiceless

   Note

   The core meaning behind most of this family of senses comes from Middle English muet. That word came through Anglo-Norman from French mu, 'dumb,' and was later respelled to look like Latin mūtus. Dryden's Ovid (1717) stretches it beyond people: 'the mute Creation' is the animal world, bending toward the earth while man looks up. In that sense, every creature without language is mute.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To reduce something to silence or quietness.

   The dense forest muted the constant roar of the highway.

   Officials tried to mute criticism of the new policy.

   Similarmuffle, silence, deaden, dampen, stifle

   Oppositeamplify, intensify

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A switch or control that turns off a device's sound.

   She pressed the mute as soon as the call started.

   Each microphone has its own mute on the mixing board.

   Note

   On a mixing console, the mute is all or nothing. Tomlinson Holman's Sound for Film and Television (2012) describes it as a switch that 'kills the signal altogether,' which is quicker than pulling the fader all the way down. That is the useful distinction: a fader lowers the sound by degrees, while a mute cuts it at once.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A person who lacks the power of speech.

   The novel's narrator is a mute who observes everything in silence.

   Trained as a signer, the mute conveyed her testimony to the court.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   A device fitted to a musical instrument, especially a brass instrument, to dull or soften its tone.

   The jazz trumpeter favored a wah-wah mute for his solos.

   A felt mute pressed against the piano strings hushed the chords.

   Similardamper

   Note

   Musicians also call it a sordine. The word covers anything fitted to an instrument to dull its sound, from a device in a brass instrument's bell to a damper on piano strings. The verb follows the noun: a muted trumpet is one played with a mute in place. Its electronic descendant is the switch on a sound desk.

8. 8
   adjective

   Not pronounced; silent, as a letter that is written but not sounded.

   The final 'e' in 'name' is mute.

   French keeps many mute consonants at the ends of words.

   Similarsilent, unpronounced

   Oppositepronounced

   Note

   Two ideas share the label, and both concern letters. The familiar one is a letter written but never sounded, like the e of name. The older one is a classification of consonants made by closing the mouth completely so the breath is stopped. That older use is the adjective behind the old noun for a stop. Context tells you which is meant.

9. 9
   nouncountable

   A large white swan, Cygnus olor, with an orange bill marked with black at the base.

   Several mutes nested along the river that spring.

   The keeper watched a mute defend its cygnets fiercely.

   Note

   A clipped form, used once the full name is clear. Bob Devine's Alien Invasion (1998) moves from 'the mute swan' to plain 'mutes.' It sets them against 'trumpeters,' the same shortening applied to the trumpeter swan. Without that context, write mute swan in full, since mutes alone could just as easily mean the funeral attendants.

10. 10
    adjective

    Giving no ringing tone when struck, said of a metal or metal object.

    The blacksmith knew the bar was flawed because it rang mute under the hammer.

    A mute coin often reveals a hidden crack inside.

    Similardull, dead

    Oppositeresonant, ringing

Showing meanings only. Show all 16