Meaning

5 senses
  1. (transitive)To make (someone or something) silent.

    Can you silence the crowd, so we can start the show?

    zum Schweigen bringen

    заглуша́тьzaglušátʹ, заглуши́тьzaglušítʹ, заста́вить замолча́тьzastávitʹ zamolčátʹ

    затихатиzatyxaty, затихнутиzatyxnuty

  2. (transitive)To repress the expression of something.

    Women, as well as children, have their thoughts or emotions routinely silenced.

    keep from expression, for example by threats or pressure

  3. (transitive)To suppress criticism, etc.

    Silence the critics.

    Silence the doubters.

    zum Schweigen bringen

    затыка́ть ротzatykátʹ rot, заткну́ть ротzatknútʹ rot

  4. To block gene expression.

  5. (euphemistic)To murder.

Examples

823 sentences
  1. We sat in total silence.

    Ми сиділи в повній тиші. — deniko

    ruМы сидели в полной тишине. — shanghainese

    deWir saßen in völliger Stille. — mayabe

  2. I don't like silence.

    Я не люблю тишу. — deniko

    ruЯ не люблю тишину. — marafon

    deStille behagt mir nicht. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

  3. We sat in complete silence.

    Ми сиділи в повній тиші. — deniko

    ruМы сидели в полной тишине. — shanghainese

  4. Tom and Mary ate in silence.

    ruТом и Мэри поели молча. — venticello

  5. Let's have a minute of silence.

    ruДавайте минуту помолчим. — odexed

Translations

8 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
to make something silent:
Русский
By meaning 2
to make something silent:
to suppress criticism:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
to make something silent:

Origin

From Middle English silence, from Old French silence, from Latin silentium (“silence”), fr

From Middle English silence, from Old French silence, from Latin silentium (“silence”), from silēns (“quiet, silent”, present participle of silēre) + -ium. Displaced native Old English swīġe and sālnes.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

silences, silencing, silenced, silenced
Base formsilence · to silence
3rd person singularsilences
Present participlesilencing
Past simplesilenced
Past participlesilenced

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theysilence
he, she, itsilences

Past simpleLesson

all personssilenced

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave silenced
he, she, ithas silenced

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill silence

Synonyms

6 synonyms
Close in meaning

Word family

12 related words

Collocations

3 patterns
  • in silence for
  • silence for a
  • silence made

See also

neighbours in the dictionary

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

silence — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto