silent

adjective

1. 1

   Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet.

   How silent is this town!

   What was formerly performed by fleets and armies, by invasions, sieges, and battles, has been of late accomplished by more silent methods.

   The voice of the auctioneer is slow and low […]; after a pause, which seems no silenter than the rest of the transaction, he ceases to repeat the bids, and his fish, in the measure of a bushel or so, have gone for a matter of three shillings.

2. 2

   Not speaking; indisposed to talk; speechless; mute; taciturn; not loquacious; not talkative.

   Ulysses, adds he, was the most eloquent and most silent of men.

   This new-created world, whereof in hell / Fame is not silent.

   Tothero is silent before replying. His great strength is in these silences; he has the disciplinarian's trick of waiting a long moment while his words gather weight.

3. 3

   Keeping at rest; inactive; calm; undisturbed.

   The winds were silent, all the waves asleep, / And heaven was trac'd upon the flattering deep

4. 4

   Not pronounced; having no sound; quiescent.

   The e is silent in fable.

   Silent letters can make some words difficult to spell.

   The l in the English word salmon is silent.

5. 5

   Having no effect; not operating; inefficient.

   Cause […] silent, virtueless, and dead.

6. 6

   With the sound turned off; usually on silent or in silent mode.

   My phone was on silent.

7. 7

   Without audio capability.

   The Magnavox Odyssey was a silent console.

8. 8

   Hidden, unseen.

   a silent voter; a silent partner

9. 9

   Of an edit or change to a text, not explicitly acknowledged.

   silent revisions; a silent emendation

   [T]he use of both acknowledged and unacknowledged (silent) translations of non-English sources makes it difficult for users to determine if a certain term genuinely appeared in an English-language text.

10. 10

    Not implying significant modifications which would affect a peptide sequence.

11. 11

    Undiagnosed or undetected because of an absence of symptoms.

12. 12

    Of distilled spirit: having no flavour or odour.

noun

1. 1

   That which is silent; a time of silence.

   Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night.

2. 2

   A silent movie

   More than 40 films will be shown spanning the past seventy-five years, including early silents and talkies, contemporary productions, foreign and American films, documentaries, underground works and television shows.

Forms

plural

silents

comparative

silenter, more silent

superlative

silentest, most silent