Word.ws English Dictionary

muffled

Syllables: muff·led/ˈmʌfl̩d/

muffled is the simple past and past participle of muffle.

Meaning of muffle

Verb

muffle (third-person singular simple present muffles, present participle muffling, simple past and past participle muffled)

  1. (transitive) To wrap (a person, face etc.) in fabric or another covering, for warmth or protection; often with up.
    • The face lies muffled up within the garment.1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, (please specify the page)
  2. (transitive) To wrap up or cover (a source of noise) in order to deaden the sound.
    • to muffle the strings of a drum, or that part of an oar which rests in the rowlock
  3. (transitive) To mute or deaden (a sound etc.).
    • The singer's voice was muffled by the thick walls, yet Tyrion knew the verse.1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 397
  4. (dated, intransitive) To speak indistinctly, or without clear articulation.
  5. (dated, transitive) To prevent seeing, or hearing, or speaking, by wraps bound about the head; to blindfold; to deafen.

See all 11 meanings of muffle

Adjective

muffled (comparative more muffled, superlative most muffled)

  1. Stifled or covered up; diminished by interference.
    • A muffled curse escaped my lips.
    Synonyms:
    deadened, dull

Synonyms of muffled

Forms of muffled

comparativemore muffled
superlativemost muffled

Words formed from muffled

Phrases with muffled

Questions about muffled

What does muffled mean?
Muffled means stifled or covered up; diminished by interference.
What is muffled the simple past and past participle of?
Muffled is the simple past and past participle of muffle.
What part of speech is muffled?
Muffled is an adjective.
How do you pronounce muffled?
Muffled is pronounced /ˈmʌfl̩d/.

Words near muffled in the dictionary

  1. muffishness
  2. muffle
  3. muffle furnace
  4. muffle furnaces
  5. muffle up
  6. muffled
  7. muffled up
  8. muffledly
  9. muffledness
  10. mufflehead
  11. muffleheads

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: muffled (page history and authors); muffle (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-muffled.wav.

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