silent

Pluralsilents

1. 1
   adjective

   Free from any sound or noise; completely still and quiet.

   The snow-covered forest was utterly silent except for our footsteps.

   A silent crowd watched the coffin carried down the aisle.

   Similarquiet, still, soundless, noiseless, hushed

   Oppositenoisy, loud

   Note

   The root sense, and the one the others grow from: Latin silēns, present participle of sileō, "be silent," traced to a root meaning still, windless, quiet, slow. That older stillness explains why the word can describe a calm scene as well as an absence of sound. It compares either way, as silenter or more silent, and William Dean Howells writes of a pause "no silenter than the rest" in 1906.

2. 2
   adjective

   Not speaking; unwilling or disinclined to talk.

   The witness remained silent despite repeated questioning.

   Her grandfather was a silent man who rarely shared his thoughts.

   Similarquiet, mute, taciturn, reticent, speechless

   Oppositetalkative, vocal

3. 3
   adjective

   Of a letter or sound, present in the spelling but not pronounced.

   The 'b' is silent in words such as 'doubt' and 'comb'.

   Many French words end in a silent consonant.

   Similarunpronounced, mute

   Note

   Talk about spelling uses the word for a letter's absence from speech, not for a quiet sound: the e in fable and the l in salmon are written but never voiced. Such letters are often relics of an older pronunciation or of a respelling made to match a word's origin. The adjective describes the letter, never the word: salmon has a silent l, but salmon itself is not silent.

4. 4
   adjective

   Set so that a device produces no audible sound, as a phone in silent mode.

   She switched her phone to silent before the meeting started.

   Keep the tablet silent so the baby can sleep.

   Similarmuted

   Note

   A setting rather than a state of the world, and English handles it almost like a noun: a phone is on silent, or in silent mode. Usually only the audible alerts are muted, while vibration or a lit screen may still announce a call. Contrast the no-audio sense, where the sound was never there to switch off.

5. 5
   adjective

   Lacking the capacity to produce or carry sound.

   Silent cinema relied on title cards to convey dialogue.

   Early home cameras recorded silent footage only.

   Note

   Technology's word for a machine built without sound: the Magnavox Odyssey was a silent console, not one with its volume turned down. The difference from the muted-phone sense is capability versus setting. A silent device cannot make sound, while a device on silent has been told not to. The same idea, applied to film, gave the noun a silent movie.

6. 6
   adjective

   Producing no noticeable symptoms, and so going undiagnosed or undetected.

   Silent hypertension can damage the arteries for years without warning.

   The tumor stayed silent until it had grown large enough to detect.

   Similarasymptomatic, symptomless

   Oppositesymptomatic

7. 7
   adjective

   Remaining at rest; calm, inactive, and undisturbed.

   The machines lay silent during the plant's long shutdown.

   A silent, undisturbed meadow stretched out before them.

   Similaridle, inactive, still, quiet, dormant

   Oppositeactive, busy

8. 8
   adjective

   Hidden from view; present but unseen.

   She acted as a silent partner, funding the firm but staying out of sight.

   A silent threat lurked beneath the surface of the deal.

   Similarhidden, unseen

   Note

   Hidden rather than quiet: what is silent here is out of sight, not out of hearing. It lives mostly in fixed pairings. A silent partner backs a venture without taking a visible part, and a silent voter's preferences are not on public show. In both phrases the person is present and active, just unseen.

9. 9
   adjective

   Having no effect; not operating or producing a result.

   The treatment proved silent, with no effect on the disease.

   Such rules remain silent unless someone actually enforces them.

10. 10
    nouncountable

    A motion picture made without recorded sound, especially without spoken dialogue.

    Film students study early silents to learn visual storytelling.

    The festival screened a restored silent with live piano accompaniment.

    Oppositetalkie

    Note

    Film history's shorthand, which turns the adjective into a noun with the ordinary plural silents. It pairs naturally with talkies: a 1978 notice in Gay Community News lists "early silents and talkies" side by side. The noun grew from the sound-free sense of the adjective, a film made without the capacity to carry sound.

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