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Muted vs Muffled - What's the difference?

muted | muffled |

As verbs the difference between muted and muffled

is that muted is (mute) while muffled is (muffle).

muted

English

Verb

(head)
  • (mute)

  • mute

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), (m), (etyl) (m), from .

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Not having the power of speech; dumb.
  • * Ovid: Metamorphoses , translated by (John Dryden)
  • Thus, while the mute creation downward bend / Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend, / Man looks aloft; and with erected eyes / Beholds his own hereditary skies. / From such rude principles our form began; / And earth was metamorphos'd into Man.
  • Silent; not making a sound.
  • * Milton
  • All the heavenly choir stood mute , / And silence was in heaven.
  • * 1956 , Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins (?, translators), Lion Feuchtwanger (German author), Raquel: The Jewess of Toledo'' (translation of '' ), Messner, page 178:
  • “ The heathens have broken into Thy Temple, and Thou art silent! Esau mocks Thy Children, and Thou remainest mute'! Show thyself, arise, and let Thy Voice resound, Thou '''mutest''' among all the ' mute !”
  • Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; said of certain letters.
  • Not giving a ringing sound when struck; said of a metal.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete, theatre) An actor who does not speak; a mime performer.
  • * 1668 OF Dramatick Poesie, AN ESSAY. By JOHN DRYDEN Esq; ((John Dryden))
  • As for the poor honest Maid, whom all the Story is built upon, and who ought to be one of the principal Actors in the Play, she is commonly a Mute in it:
  • A person who does not have the power of speech.
  • A hired mourner at a funeral; an undertaker's assistant.
  • *
  • The little box was eventually carried in one hand by the leading mute , while his colleague, with a finger placed on the lid, to prevent it from swaying, walked to one side and a little to the rear.
  • * 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia'', Faber & Faber 1992 (''Avignon Quintet ), p. 481:
  • Then followed a long silence during which the mute turned to them and said, ‘Of course you'll be wanting an urn, sir?’
  • (music) An object for dulling the sound of an instrument, especially a brass instrument, or damper for pianoforte; a sordine.
  • Verb

    (mut)
  • To silence, to make quiet.
  • To turn off the sound of.
  • Please mute the music while I make a call.
    Derived terms
    * muter

    See also

    * autism * dumb

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), probably a shortened form of (m), ultimately from (etyl).

    Verb

    (mut)
  • (Ben Jonson)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The faeces of a hawk or falcon.
  • (Hudibras)

    Etymology 3

    (etyl) (lena) .

    Verb

    (mut)
  • To cast off; to moult.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • Have I muted all my feathers?
    ----

    muffled

    English

    Verb

    (head)
  • (muffle)

  • muffle

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Anything that mutes or deadens sound.
  • A warm piece of clothing for the hands.
  • A kiln or furnace, often electric, with no direct flames (a muffle furnace)
  • The bare end of the nose between the nostrils, especially in ruminants.
  • Verb

    (muffl)
  • To wrap (a person, face etc.) in fabric or another covering, for warmth or protection; often with up .
  • * Addison
  • The face lies muffled up within the garment.
  • * Dryden
  • He muffled with a cloud his mournful eyes.
  • * Arbuthnot
  • muffled up in darkness and superstition
  • To wrap up or cover (a source of noise) in order to deaden the sound.
  • to muffle the strings of a drum, or that part of an oar which rests in the rowlock
  • To mute or deaden (a sound etc.).
  • * 1999 , (George RR Martin), A Clash of Kings , Bantam 2011, p. 397:
  • The singer's voice was muffled by the thick walls, yet Tyrion knew the verse.
  • (dated) To speak indistinctly, or without clear articulation.
  • (dated) To prevent seeing, or hearing, or speaking, by wraps bound about the head; to blindfold; to deafen.