muffle
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To wrap in fabric or another covering, for warmth or protection.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
muhfuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmʌfəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To wrap (a person, face etc.) in fabric or another covering, for warmth or protection; often with up.
transitive
To wrap up or cover (a source of noise) in order to deaden the sound.
transitive
To mute or deaden (a sound etc.).
noun
A kiln or furnace, often electric, with no direct flames (a muffle furnace)
Anything that mutes or deadens sound.
A warm piece of clothing for the hands.
A machine with two pulleys to hoist load by spinning wheels, polyspast, block and tackle.
The bare end of the nose between the nostrils, especially in ruminants.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To wrap (a person, face etc.) in fabric or another covering, for warmth or protection; often with up.
Used this way, muffle is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A tubular acoustic device inserted in the exhaust system that is designed to reduce noise.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.