Mute Meaning
/mjuːt/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjNot having the power of speech; dumb.
adjSilent; not making a sound.
Sentence Examples
Tom is deaf and mute.
She was blind, deaf, and mute.
She's deaf and mute, and is getting blind, too.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the surgery on his throat, the patient remained ____ for a week.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please press the ____ button on the remote control so that we can talk for a few minutes without being interrupted by the high volume from the TV.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English muet, from Anglo-Norman muet, moet, Middle French muet, from mu (“dumb, mute”) + -et, remodelled after Latin mūtus.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Thus, while the mute Creation downward bend / Their sight, and to their Earthy Mother tend, / Man looks aloft; and with erected Eyes / Beholds his own hereditary Skies. / From ſuch rude Principles our Form began; / And Earth was Metamorphos'd into Man."
— 1717, John Dryden, “Book I”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 4:
"He ask’d, but all the Heav’nly Quire ſtood mute, / And ſilence was in Heav’n: […]"
— 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature I2, verso, lines 217–218:
"The girl left, and presently returned, followed by two male mutes, to whom the Queen made another sign."
— 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
"He asked about the undertaking business, and how many mutes went down with Lady Estrich’s remains […]"
— 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter IX, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 95:
"The little box was eventually carried in one hand by the leading mute, while his colleague, with a finger placed on the lid, to prevent it from swaying, walked to one side and a little to the rear."
— 1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, →OCLC:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the surgery on his throat, the patient remained ____ for a week.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please press the ____ button on the remote control so that we can talk for a few minutes without being interrupted by the high volume from the TV.