mute
(myōōt)
[Middle English muet, from Old French, from diminutive of mu, from Latin mūtus.]
adjective: mut·er, mut·est.
- Refraining from producing speech or vocal sound.
- Often Offensive Unable to speak.
- Unable to vocalize, as certain animals.
- Expressed without speech; unspoken: a mute appeal.
- Law Refusing to plead when under arraignment.
- Linguistics
- Not pronounced; silent, as the e in the word house.
- Pronounced with a temporary stoppage of breath, as the sounds (p) and (b); plosive; stopped.
noun
- Often Offensive One who is incapable of speech.
- Law A defendant who refuses to plead when under arraignment.
- Music Any of various devices used to muffle or soften the tone of an instrument.
- Linguistics
- A silent letter.
- A plosive; a stop.
transitive verb: mut·ed, mut·ing, mutes.
- To soften or muffle the sound of.
- To soften the tone, color, shade, or hue of.
derivatives
- mutély
- adverb
- muténess
- noun
usage note
Usage Note: In reference to people who are unable to speak, mute and deaf-mute are now often considered objectionable. The offense is due not only to the bluntness of these terms but also to the implication that a person who is incapable of oral speech is necessarily deprived of the use of language. In fact, many deaf people today communicate naturally and fully through the use of a sign language such as ASL, and no one who has witnessed such a conversation would ever think to call the participants mute. See Usage Note at: deaf
