Silence Meaning
/ˈsaɪ̯ləns/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe absence of any sound.
nounThe act of refraining from speaking.
Sentence Examples
Speech is silver, but silence is golden.
I take it from your silence that you are not satisfied with my answer.
Their footsteps echoed in the silence.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the loud explosion, there was an eerie ____ that lasted for minutes.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The library was filled with absolute ____, broken only by the sound of turning pages.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Words like violence break the silence / Come crashing in into my little world"
— 1990, Martin L. Gore, “Enjoy the Silence”, in Violator, performed by Depeche Mode:
"Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"A state ideology, mixing nationalism, and basic Marxist economics, going under the name "Juche", was constructed, and Kim Il-sung effectively silenced, disposed of and cleared away any opposition, isolating the country and exercising an iron grip on the military, the state media and the government and party organs."
— 2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in The Guardian:
"They, and others through the years, believed Ruby must have acted on his own since there was no logic to the supposition that anyone could trust an uncontrollable, unreliable loudmouth like Ruby to silence Oswald."
— 2013, Mark Shaw, The Poison Patriarch: How the Betrayals of Joseph P. Kennedy Caused the Assassination of JFK, →ISBN, page 150:
"(in response to laughter from the audience)
Silence! I kill you!"
— 2007 September 17, Spark of Insanity, spoken by Achmed the Dead Terrorist (Jeff Dunham):
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the loud explosion, there was an eerie ____ that lasted for minutes.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The library was filled with absolute ____, broken only by the sound of turning pages.