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silent

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Free from sound or noise.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

syluhnt

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsaɪlənt

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet.

  2. Not speaking; indisposed to talk; speechless; mute; taciturn; not loquacious; not talkative.

  3. technology

    With the sound turned off; usually on silent or in silent mode.

  4. Keeping at rest; inactive; calm; undisturbed.

  5. Having no effect; not operating; inefficient.

  6. Of distilled spirit: having no flavour or odour.

noun

  1. Acronym of syndrome of irreversible lithium-effectuated neurotoxicity.

  2. uncountable

    That which is silent; a time of silence.

  3. A silent movie

  4. chiefly in the plural

    A member of the Silent Generation.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet.

Used this way, silent 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
Moderate
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.

silent filmsilent nightsilent majorityremained silentsilent readingsilent prayersilent spring

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • silentlyadverbDerived adverb

    Without speaking.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • silent partnernounCompound term

    A partner (who usually provides capital) whose association with the enterprise is not public knowledge.

  • silent personnounCompound term

    A person who does not talk.

  • silent butlernounCompound term

    A small receptacle with a handle and a hinged lid.

  • silent treatmentnounCompound term

    An aloof refusal to speak to someone you know.

  • silent picturenounCompound term

    A movie without a soundtrack.

  • silent movienounCompound term

    A movie without a soundtrack.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

adjective

Sense: free from sound or noise

stillmutemumArchaic

noun

Sense: acronym of syndrome of irreversible lithium-effectuated neurotoxicity

stillmumArchaic

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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.