silence
- 01 B1 Intermediate
n.a total lack of noise or sound.
n.the complete absence of audible sound or noise.
Simple“The deep silence of the forest was only broken by a single bird.”
In context“An uncomfortable silence settled over the room after the director announced the unexpected budget cuts.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.the state of not talking or refusing to give information.
n.the state of refraining from speech or communication, often deliberate.
Simple“Her silence on the matter made her friends think she was angry.”
In context“The prisoner maintained his silence throughout the interrogation, refusing to implicate any of his former associates.”
- 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to make someone or something stop making noise.
v.to cause a person or object to become silent; to mute an acoustic source.
Simple“He silenced his phone before the movie started.”
In context“The librarian silenced the rowdy group of students with a single stern look from across the reading room.”
- 04 C1 Advanced
v.to stop people from expressing their opinions or criticisms.
v.to suppress or prohibit the expression of ideas, criticism, or dissent.
Simple“The government tried to silence the protesters by closing the newspapers.”
In context“The corporation attempted to silence the whistleblower through a series of aggressive legal threats and non-disclosure agreements.”
“But there is a difference between choosing words carefully and choosing silence.”
“On Wednesday one of them, Luís Figo, decided to break his silence .”
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.