mute

 
Pronunciation: /mjuːt/

adjective

  • 1refraining from speech or temporarily speechless: Harry sat mute, his cheeks burning resentfully
  • (of a person) lacking the faculty of speech: he’d been bullied into silence—people often wondered if he was actually mute
  • not expressed in speech: she gazed at him in mute appeal
  • characterized by an absence of sound; quiet: the great church was mute and dark
  • (of hounds) not giving tongue while hunting.
  • 2(of a letter) not pronounced: mute e is generally dropped before suffixes beginning with a vowel

noun

  • 1a person lacking the faculty of speech: the child remained as silent as a mute
  • historical (in some Asian countries) a servant who was deprived of the power of speech.
  • historical an actor in a dumbshow.
  • historical a professional attendant or mourner at a funeral: an undertaker’s mute
  • 2a clamp placed over the bridge of a stringed instrument to deaden the resonance without affecting the vibration of the strings.
  • a pad or cone placed in the opening of a brass or other wind instrument to soften the sound.
  • 3a device on a television, telephone, or other appliance that temporarily turns off the sound.

verb

[with object]
  • deaden, muffle, or soften the sound of: her footsteps were muted by the thick carpet
  • muffle the sound of (a musical instrument), especially by the use of a mute: when muted and blown hard the trombone produces a very nasal and metallic sound
  • reduce the strength or intensity of: police violence was always muted by the presence of the media

Derivatives

mutely

adverb

muteness

noun

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French muet, diminutive of mu, from Latin mutus

1 To describe a person without the power of speech as mute (especially as in deaf mute) is today likely to cause offence and the term is often regarded as outdated. Nevertheless, there is no directly equivalent term for mute in general use, apart from speech-impaired. Profoundly deaf may be used to imply that a person has not developed any spoken language skills. 2 Note that a question subject to debate or dispute is a moot point, not a mute point. See moot (usage).