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
Jerome Hansen, Jack Schermerhorn, Ralph Nelson and Ken McCormick, Detroit Free Press, 6 Apr. 2024
The keyboard is designed for productivity and includes several time-saving custom keys for accessing emojis, microphone mute and screen grabs.
—Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
The iPhone is one of the few devices with a mute switch
By
How does that joke about millennials go?
—Florence Ion / Gizmodo, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2024
At his desk, one screen displayed information on the clinic’s clients while another had the Manchester United-Fulham soccer match on mute.
—Ron Lieber, New York Times, 2 Mar. 2024
Please check back again soon for the recorded video.
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Use up and down arrows to change volume, and spacebar or enter to toggle mute.
—Julian Chokkattu, WIRED, 2 Mar. 2024
Sometimes the best action is to hit the mute button.
—Dean Minnich, Baltimore Sun, 28 Jan. 2024
Another helpful tip is to mute notifications and change the settings on your phone so you won’t be disturbed.
—Kaitlin Vogel, Health, 23 Dec. 2023
First, mute further notifications from that group chat.
—Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 4 Mar. 2024
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
Florence Ion / Gizmodo, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2024
In return, analysts say, the Biden and Trump administrations have muted their criticism of López Obrador on non-immigration matters — such as democratic governance.
—Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2024
Glover eventually muted the keyboard but played the additional instruments, with the arrangement building slowly as the song progresses.
—Tom Roland, Billboard, 20 Mar. 2024
Things remained muted over Q4 as well, with the company reporting production of 584,892 GEO for the full year, below the anticipated range of 600,000 to 660,000 GEO.
—Trefis Team, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
Videos featuring those songs must either be removed from the platform or have the music on them muted.
—Variety, NBC News, 27 Feb. 2024
Videos featuring those songs must either be removed or have the music on them muted.
—Jem Aswad, Variety, 27 Feb. 2024
Most artists under recording or publishing contracts with Universal have seen their music muted on TikTok, depriving many of them of their primary means of music promotion, a situation that a led a substantial number of them to voice frustration.
—Jem Aswad, Variety, 28 Mar. 2024
The tones are muted: concrete skyscrapers, brutalist mega buildings.
—Paul Tassi, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
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
Adjective
But the long lines of silent men and weeping women gave mute evidence that more were unaccounted for than the 23 first reported.
—Jerome Hansen, Jack Schermerhorn, Ralph Nelson and Ken McCormick, Detroit Free Press, 6 Apr. 2024
The keyboard is designed for productivity and includes several time-saving custom keys for accessing emojis, microphone mute and screen grabs.
—Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
The iPhone is one of the few devices with a mute switch
By
How does that joke about millennials go?
—Florence Ion / Gizmodo, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2024
At his desk, one screen displayed information on the clinic’s clients while another had the Manchester United-Fulham soccer match on mute.
—Ron Lieber, New York Times, 2 Mar. 2024
Please check back again soon for the recorded video.
LIVE
VIDEO TO BEGIN AFTER AD
Loaded: 0%
Progress: 0%
Use up and down arrows to change volume, and spacebar or enter to toggle mute.
—Julian Chokkattu, WIRED, 2 Mar. 2024
Sometimes the best action is to hit the mute button.
—Dean Minnich, Baltimore Sun, 28 Jan. 2024
Another helpful tip is to mute notifications and change the settings on your phone so you won’t be disturbed.
—Kaitlin Vogel, Health, 23 Dec. 2023
First, mute further notifications from that group chat.
—Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 4 Mar. 2024
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
Instead, you’re saddled with an Action button, programmed to mute all notification sounds and vibrations by default.
—Florence Ion / Gizmodo, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2024
In return, analysts say, the Biden and Trump administrations have muted their criticism of López Obrador on non-immigration matters — such as democratic governance.
—Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2024
Glover eventually muted the keyboard but played the additional instruments, with the arrangement building slowly as the song progresses.
—Tom Roland, Billboard, 20 Mar. 2024
Things remained muted over Q4 as well, with the company reporting production of 584,892 GEO for the full year, below the anticipated range of 600,000 to 660,000 GEO.
—Trefis Team, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
Videos featuring those songs must either be removed from the platform or have the music on them muted.
—Variety, NBC News, 27 Feb. 2024
Videos featuring those songs must either be removed or have the music on them muted.
—Jem Aswad, Variety, 27 Feb. 2024
Most artists under recording or publishing contracts with Universal have seen their music muted on TikTok, depriving many of them of their primary means of music promotion, a situation that a led a substantial number of them to voice frustration.
—Jem Aswad, Variety, 28 Mar. 2024
The tones are muted: concrete skyscrapers, brutalist mega buildings.
—Paul Tassi, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
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
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 16 Apr. 2024.
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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