silencer

plural silencers

1. Something that silences or (notionally) nearly silences.
   1. An attachment to a gun that reduces the sound it emits.

      1 more example

      The Justice Department has defended the law for decades, arguing that it doesn’t ban silencers but simply governs how a buyer can acquire one. Still, late last week, prosecutors requested a 30-day pause in the criminal case against a firearms dealer found with an unregistered silencer because “the Department of Justice is re-evaluating its litigation positions regarding silencers.”

      2025 March 26, Hannah Rabinowitz, “DOJ considers abandoning the defense of federal restrictions on gun silencers”, in CNN

      Synonyms: suppressor · Antonyms: loudener

   2. The muffler of an internal combustion engine.

      Before the fitting of silencers to these locomotives was completed by the end of 1961, they were very noisy in operation, but the effect of the silencer has been remarkable.

      1962 April, P. W. B. Semmens, “The Netherlands Railways today”, in Modern Railways, page 241

   3. Any of various devices to silence the humming noise of telegraph wires.
   4. biologySomething that prevents or greatly reduces gene expression.