mute
UK/mjuːt/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/mjʉwt/
mute adjective: not having the power of speech; dumb.
Adjective
mute (comparative muter, superlative mutest)
- Not having the power of speech; dumb.
- Thus, while the mute Creation downward bend / Their sight, and to their Earthy Mother tend, / Man looks aloft; and with erected Eyes / Beholds his own hereditary Skies. / From ſuch rude Principles our Form began; / And Earth was Metamorphos'd into Man.1717, John Dryden, “Book I”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 4
- Silent; not making a sound.
- He ask’d, but all the Heav’nly Quire ſtood mute, / And ſilence was in Heav’n: […]1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature...
- […] The heathens have broken into Thy Temple, and Thou art silent! Esau mocks Thy Children, and Thou remainest mute! Show thyself, arise, and let Thy Voice resound, Thou mutest among all the mute!1956, Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins (?, translators), Lion Feuchtwanger (German author), Raquel: The Jewess of Toledo (translation of Die Jüdin von Toledo), Messner, page 178
- Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; said of certain letters.
- Not giving a ringing sound when struck; said of a metal.
Noun (1)
mute (plural mutes)
- A stopped consonant; a stop.
- An actor who does not speak; a mime performer.
- As for the poor honest Maid, whom all the Story is built upon, and who ought to be one of the principal Actors in the Play, she is commonly a Mute in it:1668 OF Dramatick Poesie, AN ESSAY. By JOHN DRYDEN Esq; (John Dryden)
- A person who does not have the power of speech.
- The girl left, and presently returned, followed by two male mutes, to whom the Queen made another sign.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
- A hired mourner at a funeral; an undertaker's assistant.
- He asked about the undertaking business, and how many mutes went down with Lady Estrich’s remains […]1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter IX, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 95
- The little box was eventually carried in one hand by the leading mute, while his colleague, with a finger placed on the lid, to prevent it from swaying, walked to one side and a little to the rear.1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, →OCLC
- An object for dulling the sound of an instrument, especially a brass instrument, or damper for pianoforte; a sordine.
- An electronic switch or control that mutes the sound.
- Another related primary control is called a mute, which is simply a switch that kills the signal altogether, allowing for a speedier turn-off than turning the fader all the way down rapidly. Mutes are probably more commonly used during multitrack music recording than during film mixing because in...2012, Tomlinson Holman, Sound for Film and Television, page 174
- A mute swan.
- The trumpeters' fate seems likely to get tangled with that of the mute swan. Currently there's enough habitat for both species, but that may change if trumpeters flourish and mutes aren't controlled. Right now mutes are thriving.1998, Bob Devine, National Geographic Society (U.S.), Alien invasion: America's battle with non-native animals and plants
- An action of muting, especially in a discussion forum as a penalty for breaking rules.
Verb (1)
mute (third-person singular simple present mutes, present participle muting, simple past and past participle muted)
- To silence, to make quiet.
- To turn off the sound of.
- Please mute the music while I make a call.
- Antonyms:
- unmute
- To cause the content or messages of (a social media account, a website, etc.) to no longer appear on one's feed, trigger notifications, or similar, especially without fully blocking.
Verb (2)
mute (third-person singular simple present mutes, present participle muting, simple past and past participle muted)
- Of a bird: to defecate.
- I Mute as a hauke dothe whan ſhe hath endued her gorge.1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Verbes”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan...
- And I knewe not that there were Sparrowes in the wall, and mine eyes being open, the Sparrowes muted warme doung into mine eyes, […]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Tobit 2:10
Noun (2)
mute (plural mutes)
- The faeces of a hawk or falcon.
- On which was written not in words,
But hieroglyphic mute of birds1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished... - The Wart was familiar with the nests of Spar-hawk and Gos, the crazy conglomerations of sticks and oddments which had been taken over from squirrels or crows, and he knew how the twigs and the tree foot were splashed with white mutes, old bones, muddy feathers and castings.1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter III, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, book I (The Sword in the Stone)
- On which was written not in words,
Verb (3)
mute (third-person singular simple present mutes, present participle muting, simple past and past participle muted)
mute meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
mute in Hindi
- not having the power of speech
- गूंगा gūṅgā, मूक mūk
mute in Tamil
- அமைதியான, ஓசையற்ற, பேசாத, பேச இயலாதவர், பேச்சின்மை, அமைதியாக்கு
mute in Marathi
- mute, speechless
- मुके muke
mute in Urdu
- mute
- بکم bukm, گونگا gūṅgā
More languagesFewer languages
- mute in Bengali
- বোবা bōba
- mute in Telugu
- మ్యూట్ చేయండి, మ్యూట్ చేయి, మ్యూట్ చేస్కోండి
- mute in Malayalam
- മൂകൻ, ഊമ, ഉച്ചാരണമില്ലാത്ത വ്യജ്ഞനാക്ഷരം
- mute in Kannada
- ಮೂಕ, ಮೂಗ, ಮಾತನಾಡಲು ಅಶಕ್ತನಾದವನು, ಮೌನವಾಗಿರುವ
- mute in Punjabi
- ਮਿਊਟ ਕਰੋ, ਮਿਊਟਿੰਗ ਕਰੋ, ਮਿਊਟ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
- mute in Gujarati
- મ્યૂટ કરો, મ્યૂટ કરવા માટે
- mute in Odia
- ମୂକ muka
- mute in Sanskrit
- मूक mūka
- mute in Sinhala
- ගොලු golu
- mute in Nepali
- म्युट गर्नुहोस्, निःशब्द गर्नुहोस्, म्युट गर्ने
- mute in Tagalog
- pipi
- mute in Arabic
- أَخْرَس ʔaḵras, أَبْكَم ʔabkam, صَامِت ṣāmit
- mute in Malay
- bisu, kelu, gagu, tunawicara
- mute in Indonesian
- bisu, gagu
- mute in Persian
- لال lâl, گنگ gong, بیصدا bi-sedâ
- mute in Thai
- เงียบ ngîiap
- mute in Vietnamese
- câm, người câm
- mute in Myanmar
- အ a.
- Kashmiri
- کۆل kol, ژھۄپہٕ ċhọpụ
Examples of mute in a sentence
- Then followed a long silence during which the mute turned to them and said, ‘Of course you'll be wanting an urn, sir?’1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 481:
- Another related primary control is called a mute, which is simply a switch that kills the signal altogether, allowing for a speedier turn-off than turning the fader all the way down rapidly.2012, Tomlinson Holman, Sound for Film and Television, page 174:
- All the pigeons, to the number of thirty-five, flew to and fro over the men's heads and muted upon them from mid-air; […]1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […]...
Synonyms of mute
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of mute
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | muter |
| superlative | mutest |
| Noun | |
| plural | mutes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | mutes |
| present participle | muting |
| past participle | muted |
| past | muted |
Origin of mute
From Middle English muet, from Anglo-Norman muet, moet, Middle French muet, from mu (“dumb, mute”) + -et, remodelled after Latin mūtus.
From Middle French muetir, probably a shortened form of esmeutir, ultimately from Proto-Germanic.
From Latin mutare (“to change”).
Words formed from mute
Phrases with mute
Words that rhyme with mute
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- moot
- overshoot
- recruit
- salute
- volute
- dispute
- impute
- pollute
- scoot
- snoot
- substitute
- chute
- depute
- dilute
- hoot
- loot
- pursuit
- reboot
- scute
- uproot
- Beirut
- cahoot
- Clute
- convolute
- lute
- zoot
- ablute
- Aleut
- argute
- astute
- beaut
- bruit
- compute
- coot
- doot
- en route
- glout
- jute
- minute
- newt
- poot
- refute
- repute
- resolute
- 'tute
- angel lute
- butte
- cheroot
Questions about mute
- What does mute mean?
- Mute means not having the power of speech; dumb.
- What is mute in Hindi?
- Mute in Hindi is गूंगा (gūṅgā), मूक (mūk). See Mute meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use mute in a sentence?
- Then followed a long silence during which the mute turned to them and said, ‘Of course you'll be wanting an urn, sir?’
- What part of speech is mute?
- Mute can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce mute?
- Mute is pronounced /mjuːt/ (UK).
Words near mute in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mute (page history and authors); mute (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); मुके (Marathi) (page history and authors); بکم (Urdu) (page history and authors); বোবা (Bengali) (page history and authors); mute (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mute (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mute (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mute (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mute (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mute (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-mute.ogg.
Cite this entry: “mute.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mute. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.