mute
pronunciation
How to pronounce mute in British English:
UK [mjuːt]
How to pronounce mute in American English:
US [mjuːt]
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- Noun:
- a deaf person who is unable to speak
- a device used to soften the tone of a musical instrument
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- Verb:
- deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping
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- Adjective:
- expressed without speech; especially because words would be inappropriate or inadequate
- lacking power of speech
- unable to speak because of hereditary deafness
Word Origin
- mute (adj.)
- late 14c., mewet "silent," from Old French muet "dumb, mute" (12c.), diminutive of mut, mo, from Latin mutus "silent, speechless, dumb," probably from imitative base *meue- (cognates: Sanskrit mukah "dumb," Greek myein "to be shut," of the mouth). Form assimilated in 16c. to Latin mutus.
- mute (v.)
- "deaden the sound of," 1861, from mute (n.). Related: Muted; muting.
- mute (n.)
- 1570s, "stage actor in a dumb show;" 1610s as "person who does not speak," from mute (adj.). Musical sense first recorded 1811 of stringed instruments, 1841, of horns.
Synonym
Example
- 1. I took the shirt and hurried to the side of the dying mute singer .
- 2. Ordinarily loquacious spokesmen have gone mute .
- 3. If they have to play video games past your bedtime , they can mute the tv .
- 4. With the 1971 ad on mute , open another browser window and play this year 's " imported from detroit " super bowl ad , which features an instrumental version of eminem 's " lose yourself . "
- 5. It is also where the women , so often characterised as mute and oppressed , are finding their voice through art .