silent

Alternative forms

• scilent (hyper‐correct, obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin silēnt-, silēns (“silent”), present participle of sileō (“be silent”), from Proto-Indo-European *seil- (“still, windless, quiet, slow”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌽 (anasilan, “to cease, grow still, be silent”), Old English sālnes (“silence”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsaɪlənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

silent (comparative silenter or more silent, superlative silentest or most silent)

1. Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet.
   • 1604, William Shakespeare, Othello, act 5, scene 1:

     How silent is this town!

   • 1825, Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy, The Works of Samuel Johnson, Talboys and Wheeler, page 52:

     What was formerly performed by fleets and armies, by invasions, sieges, and battles, has been of late accomplished by more silent methods.

   • 1906, William Dean Howells and Sidney Dillon Ripley, Certain Delightful English Towns: With Glimpses of the Pleasant Country Between, Harper & Brothers, page 152:

     The voice of the auctioneer is slow and low […] ; after a pause, which seems no silenter than the rest of the transaction, he ceases to repeat the bids, and his fish, in the measure of a bushel or so, have gone for a matter of three shillings.

2. Not speaking; indisposed to talk; speechless; mute; taciturn; not loquacious; not talkative.
   • Broome

     Ulysses, adds he, was the most eloquent and most silent of men.

   • Milton

     This new-created world, whereof in hell / Fame is not silent.

3. Keeping at rest; inactive; calm; undisturbed.

   The wind is silent.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Parnell to this entry?)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Raleigh to this entry?)

4. (pronunciation) Not pronounced; having no sound; quiescent.

   The e is silent in fable.

5. Having no effect; not operating; inefficient.
   • Sir Walter Raleigh

     Cause […] silent, virtueless, and dead.

6. (technology) Without audio capability.

   The Magnavox Odyssey was a silent console.

7. Hidden, unseen.

   a silent voter; a silent partner

8. Of an edit or change to a text, not explicitly acknowledged.

   silent revisions; a silent emendation

9. Not implying significant modifications which would affect a peptide sequence.
10. Undiagnosed or undetected because of an absence of symptoms.

Noun

silent (plural silents)

1. (uncountable) That which is silent; a time of silence.

   • The silent of the night. Shakespeare

2. A silent movie
   • 2007 August 12, Woody Allen, “The Man Who Asked Hard Questions”, in New York Times‎:

     All kinds, silents and talkies.

Further reading

• silent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• silent in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• silent at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• ELINTs, Teslin, enlist, inlets, leints, listen, tinsel

Verb

silent

1. third-person plural present indicative of siler
2. third-person plural present subjunctive of siler

Anagrams

• lisent

Verb

silent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of sileō