silent

The word “silent” means making no sound at all; completely quiet. In plain terms, making no noise, or choosing not to speak.

“Silent” is pronounced SEYE-luhnt (/ˈsaɪ̯lənt/ in IPA).

Here is “silent” used in a sentence: “The library fell silent as soon as the exam began.”

Words with a similar meaning to “silent” include taciturn, mute, still, invisible, occluded and silential.

The opposite of “silent” — its antonyms — are loud, noisy, unsilent and nonsilent.

Depending on how it is used, “silent” can be an adjective and a noun.

The word “silent” comes from Latin. From Latin silens, "being quiet," the present participle of silere, "to be silent.".

“Silent” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

Silent means completely free of sound, an absolute state with nothing to hear. Quiet is relative and means low in sound rather than none at all; a quiet room may still have soft background noise. So everything silent is quiet, but not everything quiet is truly silent.

Silent describes anything making no sound at a given moment. Mute more often describes an inability or refusal to speak, or a device setting that turns sound off. A person can choose to be silent, whereas 'mute' suggests the capacity for sound is switched off or absent.

A silent letter is a letter written in a word but not pronounced, fitting the sense of making no sound. Common English examples include the 'k' in 'knee,' the 'b' in 'thumb,' and the 'gh' in 'night.' They often survive from older spellings or foreign origins.

The most direct opposites are 'loud' and 'noisy,' describing something full of sound. Depending on context, 'audible' also contrasts with silent, since it means able to be heard. A silent engine makes no sound at all, while a noisy one is impossible to ignore.