sourdine

S1O1U1R1D2I1N1E1
UK/sʊəˈdiːn/

noun

A muted trumpet.

Similar
sordino
OriginFrench sourdine →
Scrabble 9
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounsourdine (plural sourdines)

plural sourdines

  1. historicalentertainmentA muted trumpet.
  2. historicalentertainmentA mute; a damper.
adjectivesourdine (comparative more sourdine, superlative most sourdine)

comparative more sourdine · superlative most sourdine

  1. Muffled, muted; subdued.

    The streets had been considerably quieter in the sourdine Past.

    1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 436

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna mute for a violin

Similar
sordino
Broader
mute
Also see
sordino

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Frenchsourdine
  2. Englishsourdine

From French sourdine.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sourdine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sourdine

MLA

“sourdine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sourdine. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sourdine,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sourdine.

Source: sourdine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.