Word.ws English Dictionary

muffling

muffling is the present participle and gerund 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

Noun

muffling (plural mufflings)

  1. (in plural) That which muffles; heavy clothing.
    • It was not until he had ascertained that all his mufflings were adjusted, and his coat-collar brought as near his hat as was consistent with leaving any of his face out[…]1839, Museum of Foreign Literature, Science and Art, volume 37, page 220

Forms of muffling

pluralmufflings

Phrases with muffling

Questions about muffling

What does muffling mean?
Muffling means that which muffles; heavy clothing.
What is muffling the present participle and gerund of?
Muffling is the present participle and gerund of muffle.
What part of speech is muffling?
Muffling is a noun.
What is the plural of muffling?
The plural of muffling is mufflings.

Words near muffling in the dictionary

  1. muffles
  2. muffles up
  3. muffleth
  4. Muffley
  5. Muffleys
  6. muffling
  7. muffling up
  8. mufflings
  9. mufflon
  10. mufflons
  11. muffly

Source and license

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