Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Unable to speak: Describes a person who cannot speak, often due to being deaf from birth.
   • Silent; not expressed in speech: Describes something expressed without words or sound.

2. Noun:

   • A person who cannot speak: A person who is mute, typically deaf and unable to speak.
   • A device for softening sound: A device used on a musical instrument to muffle or soften its tone.

3. Verb:

   • To muffle or soften sound: To deaden or reduce the volume or intensity of a sound.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The child was born mute. (The child was born unable to speak.)
  • She gave him a mute look of gratitude. (She gave him a silent, wordless look of thanks.)
• Noun:
  • The violinist attached a mute to the bridge. (The violinist attached a sound-softening device to the bridge.)
  • Historically, the term "mute" was used for a deaf person who did not speak.
• Verb:
  • He muted the strings of his guitar with his palm. (He softened the sound of his guitar strings with his palm.)
  • The thick curtains helped to mute the noise from the street. (The thick curtains helped to deaden the street noise.)

Advanced Usage

• Legal/Historical Context: The phrase "to stand mute" means to refuse to plead guilty or not guilty in a court of law.
  • The accused chose to stand mute before the court.
• Linguistics: A "mute letter" is a silent letter in a word (e.g., the 'k' in 'knight' or the 'b' in 'dumb').
  • The 'e' at the end of 'hope' is often a mute letter.

Variants and Related Words

• Mutely (adverb): In a silent manner.
  • She nodded mutely in agreement.
• Muteness (noun): The condition of being mute.
  • His muteness was due to a traumatic event.

Synonyms

• Adjective (silent): wordless, speechless, unspoken, tacit.
• Verb (soften sound): muffle, dampen, deaden, soften, stifle.

Related Phrasal Verbs/Phrases

• Mute out: To block or suppress a sound (less common).
  • The headphones are designed to mute out ambient noise.

Related Idioms

• Deaf-mute: An outdated and now often considered offensive term for a person who is deaf and does not speak. The preferred modern terms are "deaf" or "profoundly deaf individual who does not use speech."
• Mute as a fish: Completely silent (idiomatic).
  • When asked about the incident, he was mute as a fish.

Adjective

1. unable to speak because of hereditary deafness
2. expressed without speech
   • a mute appeal
   • a silent curse
   • best grief is tongueless- Emily Dickinson
   • the words stopped at her lips unsounded
   • unspoken grief
   • choking exasperation and wordless shame- Thomas Wolfe

Noun

1. a device used to soften the tone of a musical instrument
2. a deaf person who is unable to speak

Verb

1. deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping