silence

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Absence of sound

Nouns

1. silence; stillness, quiet, peace, hush; inaudibility.

2. (reluctance or inability to speak) muteness, dumbness, aphony, voicelessness; taciturnity, reticence; deadness, dullness.

3. silencer, muffler, damper, mute; gag, muzzle.

4. mute, deafmute.

Verbs

1. silence, baffle, strike dumb, quiet, still, hush (up); stifle, muffle, stop, cut one short, cut off; drown (out); smother, muzzle, mute, gag, put to silence; dampen, deaden. Informal, shush, squelch. Slang, shut up, slap down, put the kibosh on, soft-pedal.

2. hold one's tongue, speak softly, whisper. Informal, save one's breath, keep one's mouth shut. Slang, button or zip one's lip, clam up, save it, put a sock in it.

Adjectives

1. silent; still, stilly; quiet [as a mouse], noiseless, soundless; hushed, soft, solemn, awful, tomblike, deathlike, silent as the tomb or grave; inaudible, faint; soundproof, muted, muffled, noiseproof.

2. mute, dumb, mum, tongue-tied, tongueless, voiceless, speechless; aphonic; tacit; unspoken; silent, gagged, muzzled; inarticulate; taciturn (see taciturnity).

Adverbs — silently, mutely, etc.; with bated breath, under one's breath, sotto voce; tacet. Slang, on the q. t.

Interjections — hush! silence! shut up! cat got your tongue? mum's the word!

Slang, dry up! belay that! stow it!

Phrases — silence is a still noise; [speech is silver, but] silence is golden; a shut mouth catches no flies; children should be seen and not heard; see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil; the silent dog is the first to bite.

Quotations — Silence is the virtue of fools (Francis Bacon), No voice; but oh! the silence sank like music on my heart (Coleridge), Thou still unravished bride of quietness, thou foster-child of silence and slow time (John Keats), Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing (Robert Benchley), Do you wish people to believe good of you? Don't speak (Pascal), God is the friend of silence (Mother Teresa), Try as we may to make a silence, we cannot (John Cage).

Antonyms, see sound, loudness.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Absence of sound]

Syn. quietness, stillness, hush, utter stillness, the stillness of death, absolute quiet, calm, noiselessness, soundlessness, quiet, deep stillness, stillness of eternal night, loss of signal, cessation of all sound, quietude, hush of early dawn, radio silence, security silence, security blackout, censorship, iron curtain.

Ant. noise*, din, uproar.

2. [Absence of speech]

Syn. muteness, secrecy, taciturnity, reserve, reticence, inarticulateness, golden silence, respectful silence, sullen silence.

Ant. talkativeness, glibness, loquacity.

v.

Syn. overawe, quell, still; see hush 1 , quiet 2 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

1. stillness quiet, peace, hush, quietude, noiselessness, dead air, calm, tranquility, serenity, blackout.

2. speechlessness muteness, reticence, taciturnity, reservation, uncommunicativeness, secrecy. ''The sharper sword.''—Robert U. Johnson. ''One of the hardest arguments to refute.''—Josh Billings. ''Unbearable repartee.''—Gilbert Keith Chesterson. ''The fence around wisdom.''—Hebrew proverb.

ANT.: 1. noise, cacophony, din, uproar. 2. loquaciousness, talk, chatter

II

v.

quiet, still, shut up, hush, gag, muzzle, inhibit, censor, *squelch, strangle, put down, crush, repress.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I noun 1. The avoidance of speech: dumbness, muteness, speechlessness, wordlessness. See WORDS. 2. The absence of sound or noise: hush, noise-lessness, quiet, quietness, soundlessness, still, stillness. See SOUNDS. II verb To cause to become silent: hush, quiet, quieten, shush, shut up, still. See SOUNDS.