muter; mutest
1
: unable to speak : lacking the power of speech
2
: characterized by absence of speech: such as
a
: felt or experienced but not expressed
touched her hand in mute sympathy
her mute hostility
b
: refusing to plead directly or stand trial
the prisoner stands mute
3
: remaining silent, undiscovered, or unrecognized
The hounds generally hunt mute, so they can get close to the game.
4
a
: contributing nothing to the pronunciation of a word
the b in plumb is mute
b
: contributing to the pronunciation of a word but not representing the nucleus of a syllable
the e in mate is mute
mutely
adverb
muteness
noun
plural mutes
1
: a device attached to or inserted into a musical instrument to soften or alter its tone
3
dated, offensive
: a person who lacks the ability to speak
muted; muting
1
: to muffle, reduce, or eliminate the sound of
Synonyms
Examples of mute in a Sentence
Adjective
They hugged each other in mute sympathy.
I could see a mute plea for help in his eyes.
Noun
I was practicing my trumpet at three in the morning when the mute fell out, and I managed to wake everyone up.
Recent Examples on the Web
WIRED, 20 Sep. 2023
Apple has repurposed its physical mute button on the side of its high-end models into a more customizable tool, allowing users to carry out a handful of commands, from recording a voice memo and taking a picture to turning on the flashlight.
—Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN, 19 Sep. 2023
The replicas stand in the Fowler gallery, imposing, smooth, mute.
—Rob Goyanes, Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2023
The current iPhone Pro features a power button, two volume controls, and a mute toggle.
—Iyaz Akhtar, PCMAG, 4 Aug. 2023
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max added an Action Button that replaces the mute toggle to go with new titanium bodies, ultra-thin bezels, and a higher starting price.
—Emma Roth, The Verge, 13 Sep. 2023
Here’s everything to know about the mute challenge.
—Kelsie Gibson, Peoplemag, 8 Sep. 2023
And if there were a trophy for the ad getting the most and fastest hits on the mute button, the Kars4Kids jingle would likely own it.
—Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2023
And The Action Button Leaks Replacing the mute switch on the next iPhone model with a user-definable action button has been a bit of an off-and-on rumor for some time.
—Ewan Spence, Forbes, 13 Aug. 2023
Vulture, 12 Dec. 2022
After accidentally starting a wildfire, 7-year-old Lu, mute and from an abusive home, slyly tricks Merribelle, a hardworking trans woman, into kidnapping her – sparking a beautifully unexpected bond with a devastating expiration date.
—Mia Galuppo, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2022
Aminatta had come to Kissy from a crowded low-income neighborhood in the city, mute and immobile with a depression that had never been treated.
—New York Times, 11 Apr. 2022
Don’t be the miming mute everyone is tired of reminding.
—Stacey Hanke, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2021
Idealizing the beauty of the bucolic landscape often minimizes the labor tied to it, and so Yu disrupts any sense of the natural world as mute and pleasant.
—Washington Post, 29 Sep. 2021
Lenin, too, suffered from manic rage and erratic behavior, and died in his early fifties confined to a wheelchair after multiple strokes left him mute and paralyzed.
—Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 1 Apr. 2016
Other nice-to-have features include some ruggedness in the design, so the phone doesn’t need a case, IP68 water, and dust resistance, a hardware mute switch, and eSIM support.
—Chris Smith, BGR, 18 May 2022
In the other courtroom, Brooks could be seen speaking to himself and making hand gestures while on mute.
—Eric Levenson and Rebekah Riess, CNN, 6 Oct. 2022
Meredith Kolodner, New York Times, 26 Sep. 2023
The drought could mute fall colors in this area, a popular destination for leaf-peeping just an hour or two drive from Washington.
—Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2023
And, much like other digital spaces, there will be some safety features, such as being able to mute other users.
—Sarah Valenzuela, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2023
McMurtry’s novels translated well to the movies, where the sweep of the settings helped to mute the stories’ cynicism.
—Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2023
On Friday, Huawei announced an even more powerful version of the Mate 60 Pro, which features more memory and connections to China’s GPS competitor, BeiDou.
While Huawei was muted about the phone’s release, Chinese state media was not.
—Bynicholas Gordon, Fortune, 8 Sep. 2023
Each piece in the set has muted, neutral, metallic tones—like silver, gold, copper, and bronze—and fits the woodland theme.
—Stephanie Osmanski, Southern Living, 3 Sep. 2023
Pale sand dunes covered in sea grass and holly trees are muted against the men in neon swim briefs who wander through them.
—Evan Moffitt, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2023
But the celebration was muted in the Jets locker room.
—Ben Volin, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Sep. 2023
Sun Sentinel, 13 Feb. 2023
Facebook attempted to mute the majority of political posts in its efforts to avoid controversy, according to internal documents.
—Christopher Hutton, Washington Examiner, 5 Jan. 2023
Tap that to mute yourself.
—WIRED, 28 Oct. 2022
Other new features will be added in addition to the screen time limits, such as a weekly recap of time in the app, and added parental controls that can mute notifications and provide additional information on app usage.
—Julia Landwehr, Health, 8 Mar. 2023
The platform is also expanding Family Pairing, and will allow parents to filter out certain words and hashtags, set screen time limits and set schedules to mute TikTok notifications.
—Morgan Sung, NBC News, 1 Mar. 2023
The ability to mute or play two sounds at once is a valuable feature.
—Nancy Jo Adams, Popular Mechanics, 16 Feb. 2023
Finally, the cameraman, stuck inside a tiny booth designed to mute the sound of the camera, dies of heatstroke.
—Vulture, 31 Jan. 2023
In July, the Austin American-Statesman published two versions of a surveillance video from the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., that left 19 children and two adults dead in May — but decided to mute the sound of children screaming.
—Jeremy Barr, Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2023
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Adjective
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Use up and down arrows to change volume, and spacebar or enter to toggle mute.
—WIRED, 20 Sep. 2023
Apple has repurposed its physical mute button on the side of its high-end models into a more customizable tool, allowing users to carry out a handful of commands, from recording a voice memo and taking a picture to turning on the flashlight.
—Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN, 19 Sep. 2023
The replicas stand in the Fowler gallery, imposing, smooth, mute.
—Rob Goyanes, Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2023
The current iPhone Pro features a power button, two volume controls, and a mute toggle.
—Iyaz Akhtar, PCMAG, 4 Aug. 2023
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max added an Action Button that replaces the mute toggle to go with new titanium bodies, ultra-thin bezels, and a higher starting price.
—Emma Roth, The Verge, 13 Sep. 2023
Here’s everything to know about the mute challenge.
—Kelsie Gibson, Peoplemag, 8 Sep. 2023
And if there were a trophy for the ad getting the most and fastest hits on the mute button, the Kars4Kids jingle would likely own it.
—Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2023
And The Action Button Leaks Replacing the mute switch on the next iPhone model with a user-definable action button has been a bit of an off-and-on rumor for some time.
—Ewan Spence, Forbes, 13 Aug. 2023
Noun
After accidentally starting a wildfire, 7-year-old Lu, mute and from an abusive home, slyly tricks Merribelle, a hardworking trans woman, into kidnapping her — sparking a beautifully unexpected bond with a devastating expiration date.
—Vulture, 12 Dec. 2022
After accidentally starting a wildfire, 7-year-old Lu, mute and from an abusive home, slyly tricks Merribelle, a hardworking trans woman, into kidnapping her – sparking a beautifully unexpected bond with a devastating expiration date.
—Mia Galuppo, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2022
Aminatta had come to Kissy from a crowded low-income neighborhood in the city, mute and immobile with a depression that had never been treated.
—New York Times, 11 Apr. 2022
Don’t be the miming mute everyone is tired of reminding.
—Stacey Hanke, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2021
Idealizing the beauty of the bucolic landscape often minimizes the labor tied to it, and so Yu disrupts any sense of the natural world as mute and pleasant.
—Washington Post, 29 Sep. 2021
Lenin, too, suffered from manic rage and erratic behavior, and died in his early fifties confined to a wheelchair after multiple strokes left him mute and paralyzed.
—Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 1 Apr. 2016
Other nice-to-have features include some ruggedness in the design, so the phone doesn’t need a case, IP68 water, and dust resistance, a hardware mute switch, and eSIM support.
—Chris Smith, BGR, 18 May 2022
In the other courtroom, Brooks could be seen speaking to himself and making hand gestures while on mute.
—Eric Levenson and Rebekah Riess, CNN, 6 Oct. 2022
Verb
The debate may have been muted in New York because the city has other major revenue streams, such as Wall Street.
—Meredith Kolodner, New York Times, 26 Sep. 2023
The drought could mute fall colors in this area, a popular destination for leaf-peeping just an hour or two drive from Washington.
—Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2023
And, much like other digital spaces, there will be some safety features, such as being able to mute other users.
—Sarah Valenzuela, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2023
McMurtry’s novels translated well to the movies, where the sweep of the settings helped to mute the stories’ cynicism.
—Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2023
On Friday, Huawei announced an even more powerful version of the Mate 60 Pro, which features more memory and connections to China’s GPS competitor, BeiDou.
While Huawei was muted about the phone’s release, Chinese state media was not.
—Bynicholas Gordon, Fortune, 8 Sep. 2023
Each piece in the set has muted, neutral, metallic tones—like silver, gold, copper, and bronze—and fits the woodland theme.
—Stephanie Osmanski, Southern Living, 3 Sep. 2023
Pale sand dunes covered in sea grass and holly trees are muted against the men in neon swim briefs who wander through them.
—Evan Moffitt, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2023
But the celebration was muted in the Jets locker room.
—Ben Volin, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Sep. 2023
Verb
Some days, Aalayah Eastmond asks friends to mute the television so the sound of gunshots won’t frighten her.
—Sun Sentinel, 13 Feb. 2023
Facebook attempted to mute the majority of political posts in its efforts to avoid controversy, according to internal documents.
—Christopher Hutton, Washington Examiner, 5 Jan. 2023
Tap that to mute yourself.
—WIRED, 28 Oct. 2022
Other new features will be added in addition to the screen time limits, such as a weekly recap of time in the app, and added parental controls that can mute notifications and provide additional information on app usage.
—Julia Landwehr, Health, 8 Mar. 2023
The platform is also expanding Family Pairing, and will allow parents to filter out certain words and hashtags, set screen time limits and set schedules to mute TikTok notifications.
—Morgan Sung, NBC News, 1 Mar. 2023
The ability to mute or play two sounds at once is a valuable feature.
—Nancy Jo Adams, Popular Mechanics, 16 Feb. 2023
Finally, the cameraman, stuck inside a tiny booth designed to mute the sound of the camera, dies of heatstroke.
—Vulture, 31 Jan. 2023
In July, the Austin American-Statesman published two versions of a surveillance video from the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., that left 19 children and two adults dead in May — but decided to mute the sound of children screaming.
—Jeremy Barr, Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mute.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Adjective, Noun, and Verb (1)
Middle English muet, mut, from Anglo-French, from mu, mute, from Latin mutus, probably from mu, representation of a muttered sound
Verb (2)
Middle English, from Anglo-French *meutir, short for ameutir, alteration of Old French esmeltir, of Germanic origin; akin to Middle Dutch smelten to melt, make fluid, defecate (of birds)
First Known Use
Adjective
1513, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Noun
1530, in the meaning defined at sense 2
Verb (1)
1883, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb (2)
15th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of mute was
in the 15th century
Phrases Containing mute
Dictionary Entries Near mute
Cite this Entry
“Mute.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mute. Accessed 2 Oct. 2023.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
mute
2 of 3 noun1
: a person who cannot or does not speak
2
: a device attached to or inserted into a musical instrument to reduce, soften, or muffle its tone
mute
3 of 3 verb
muted; muting
1
: to muffle or reduce the sound of
2
: to tone down
muted his criticism
Medical Definition
mute
1 of 2 adjective
muter; mutest
: unable to speak : lacking the power of speech
muteness
noun
mute
2 of 2 noun
dated, offensive
: a person who lacks the ability to speak
More from Merriam-Webster on mute
Nglish: Translation of mute for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of mute for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about mute
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