silent

comparative silenter · comparative more silent · superlative silentest · superlative most silent · alternative hypercorrect obsolete scilent

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

   How silent is this town!

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

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   What was formerly performed by fleets and armies, by invasions, sieges, and battles, has been of late accomplished by more silent methods.

   1825, Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy, The Works of Samuel Johnson, Talboys and Wheeler, page 52

   The voice of the auctioneer is slow and low […]; after a pause, which seems no silenter than the rest of the transaction, he ceases to repeat the bids, and his fish, in the measure of a bushel or so, have gone for a matter of three shillings.

   1906, William Dean Howells, Sidney Dillon Ripley, Certain Delightful English Towns: With Glimpses of the Pleasant Country Between, Harper & Brothers, page 152

   Synonyms: quiet

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

   This new-created world, whereof in hell / Fame is not silent.

   1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

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   Ulysses, adds he, was the most eloquent and most silent of men.

   1725–1726, Homer, “(please specify the book or chapter of the Odyssey)”, in [William Broome, Elijah Fenton, Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC

   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.

   1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 38

   Synonyms: speechless, dumb

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

   The winds were silent, all the waves asleep, / And heaven was trac'd upon the flattering deep

   a. 1718, Thomas Parnell, Hesiod; or, the Rise of Woman

   Synonyms: dormant

4. pronunciationNot pronounced; having no sound; quiescent.

   The e is silent in fable.

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   Silent letters can make some words difficult to spell.

   The l in the English word salmon is silent.

   Synonyms: mute, quiescent, servile

5. Having no effect; not operating; inefficient.

   Cause […] silent, virtueless, and dead.

   1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5)

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

   My phone was on silent.

7. engineeringWithout audio capability.

   The Magnavox Odyssey was a silent console.

8. Hidden, unseen.

   a silent voter; a silent partner

   Synonyms: concealed

9. Of an edit or change to a text, not explicitly acknowledged.

   silent revisions; a silent emendation

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   [T]he use of both acknowledged and unacknowledged (silent) translations of non-English sources makes it difficult for users to determine if a certain term genuinely appeared in an English-language text.

   2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 31, number 4, →DOI, page 496

10. biologyNot implying significant modifications which would affect a peptide sequence.
11. Undiagnosed or undetected because of an absence of symptoms.
12. Of distilled spirit: having no flavour or odour.

plural silents · alternative hypercorrect obsolete scilent

1. uncountableThat which is silent; a time of silence.

   Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night.

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]

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.

   1978 April 22, “The Celluloid Closet”, in Gay Community News, page 2

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

plural Silents

1. in pluralA member of the Silent Generation.

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   From Ali (technically a Silent who was born in 1942), to Tommie Smith's medal-stand protest, to Joe Namath's Super Bowl prediction to the hair-raising Oakland A's and the raucous Bronx Zoo Yankees of the 1970s, to the outbursts of Connors and McEnroe on the tennis court, to King's tireless push for women's equality off it, this was a generation unafraid of offering opinions.

   2011 February 17, Richard Rothschild, “Ranking generations of athletes”, in Sports Illustrated, New York, N.Y.: Arena Group Holdings, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 May 2022

   In a somewhat bizarre set of survey data from 2015, 33 percent of Millennials identified as Gen X, and 8 percent said that they were Boomers. Fifteen percent of Gen Xers said that they identified as Boomers, while a baffled 2 percent of Boomers and 4 percent of Silents thought of themselves as Millennials.

   2021 October 14, Joe Pinsker, “'Gen Z' Only Exists in Your Head”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Sep 2023