silenced

3 definitions • 6 examples

past simple and past participle of

to make someone or something be quiet:

The teacher raised his voice to silence the class (= to make them stop talking).

Her remark about his appearance completely silenced him (= made him unable to answer).

figurative The enemy's guns were silenced (= made to stop firing) in a surprise attack.

to prevent someone from expressing their views or from criticizing or opposing someone:

Big companies file lawsuits to silence their critics.

The more they try to silence us, the more we will speak out.

Al Capone silenced his opponents by killing them.