(mutes, muting, muted)
1.
Someone who is mute is silent for a particular reason and does not speak.
He was mute, distant, and indifferent...
ADJ
•
Mute is also an adverb.
He could watch her standing mute by the phone...
ADV: ADV after v
• mutely
I crouched by him and grasped his hand, mutely offering what comfort I could.
ADV: ADV with v
2.
Someone who is mute is unable to speak. (OLD-FASHIONED)
Marianna, the duke's daughter, became mute after a shock.
ADJ
3.
If someone mutes something such as their feelings or their activities, they reduce the strength or intensity of them.
The corruption does not seem to have muted the country's prolonged economic boom.
VERB: V n
• muted
The threat contrasted starkly with his administration's previous muted criticism...
ADJ
4.
If you mute a noise or sound, you lower its volume or make it less distinct.
They begin to mute their voices, not be as assertive...
VERB: V n
• muted
'Yes,' he muttered, his voice so muted I hardly heard his reply...
ADJ