silent

Forms

1.Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet.
- What was formerly performed by fleets and armies, by invasions, sieges, and battles, has been of late accomplished by more silent methods.
- How silent is this town!
2.Not speaking; indisposed to talk; speechless; mute; taciturn; not loquacious; not talkative.
- This new-created world, whereof in hell / Fame is not silent.
- Ulysses, adds he, was the most eloquent and most silent of men.
- Tothero is silent before replying. His great strength is in these silences; he has the disciplinarian's trick of waiting a long moment while his words gather weight.
3.Keeping at rest; inactive; calm; undisturbed.
4.Not pronounced; having no sound; quiescent.
- The l in the English word salmon is silent.
- Silent letters can make some words difficult to spell.
- The e is silent in fable.

1.That which is silent; a time of silence.
- Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night.
2.A silent movie
- More than 40 films will be shown spanning the past seventy-five years, including early silents and talkies, contemporary productions, foreign and American films, documentaries, underground works and television shows.
3.A member of the Silent Generation.

Uncommon· #2424

From Latin silēns (“silent”), present participle of sileō (“be silent”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyl- (“still, windless, quiet, slow”).

Related to Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌽 (anasilan, “to cease, grow still, be silent”), Old English sālnes (“silence”).