Word.ws English Dictionary

dumbness

dumbness noun: the state of being mute: that is, of not communicating vocally, whether from selective mutism (refusal to speak) or from an inability to speak.

Noun

dumbness (usually uncountable, plural dumbnesses)

  1. (dated, offensive, usually) The state of being mute: that is, of not communicating vocally, whether from selective mutism (refusal to speak) or from an inability to speak.
    • He was a deaf-mute. His dumbness did not seem to matter when we were boys.1944, Emily Carr, “Sissy's Job”, in The House of All Sorts
  2. (dated, usually) Muteness, silence; abstention from speech.
    • There was speech in their dumbness.c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  3. (dated, usually) Show or gesture without words; pantomime; dumb-show.
    • To the dumbness of the gesture one might interpret.c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  4. (informal, usually) The quality of being stupid or foolish.

dumbness meaning in Tamil and Kannada

dumbness in Tamil

ஊமை, மூகம், மூகைமை, மூங்கைத தன்மை, மௌனம்

dumbness in Kannada

ಮೂಕತನ, ಮೂಗತನ, ಮೂಕತೆ, ಮೂಗತೆ

Synonyms of dumbness

Forms of dumbness

pluraldumbnesses
alternative form (obsolete)dumbnesse

Origin of dumbness

From Middle English dombenesse, from Old English dumbnes; equivalent to dumb + -ness. Cognate with Old Frisian dumbnisse (“folly, dumbness”).

Words formed from dumbness

Questions about dumbness

What does dumbness mean?
Dumbness means the state of being mute: that is, of not communicating vocally, whether from selective mutism (refusal to speak) or from an inability to speak.
What is dumbness in Tamil?
Dumbness in Tamil is ஊமை, மூகம், மூகைமை. See Dumbness meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is dumbness?
Dumbness is a noun.
What is the plural of dumbness?
The plural of dumbness is dumbnesses.

Words near dumbness in the dictionary

  1. Dumbleton
  2. Dumbletons
  3. dumbling
  4. dumblings
  5. dumbly
  6. dumbness
  7. dumbnesses
  8. dumbnut
  9. dumbnuts
  10. dumbo
  11. dumbo ear

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dumbness (page history and authors); dumbness (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dumbness (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “dumbness.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dumbness. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.