Silence

How to spell silence

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce silence

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does silence mean?

1. nounThe complete absence of sound, or a refusal or failure to speak.
2. verbTo make someone or something stop making noise or expressing views.

Silence in a sentence

• noun

  The library asks visitors to maintain silence at all times.

• verb

  The new policy seemed designed to silence any critics within the company.

• noun

  An uncomfortable silence fell over the meeting room.

• verb

  Engineers worked to silence the rattling fan in the server room.

Where does silence come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin silentium, meaning 'a state of being quiet or still', which was formed from the verb silere, 'to be silent or to keep quiet'. English borrowed it through Old French as silence during the 1200s, where it carried the same sense of absence of sound or speech. The same Latin root survives in the adjective 'silent' and in 'silencer', the device fitted to a gun or engine to muffle noise. The spelling preserves the soft -ce ending typical of nouns that English took from Old French, which is why the trap is the unstressed second syllable that can blur into a schwa. Over time the word broadened from simply 'no sound' to include deliberate refusal to speak or to disclose something.

How the word is built

• sil- (from Latin silere: to be quiet)
• -ence (noun suffix denoting a state or quality)