1 N-VAR [oft in/of N] 沉默;缄默;不作声 If there is silence, nobody is speaking. 沉默;缄默;不作声
SYN quiet, peace, calm, hush
2 N-UNCOUNT 寂静;无声 The silence of a place is the extreme quietness there. 寂静;无声
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...the silence of that rainless, all-concealing fog.
滴雨未下、隐藏一切的大雾静默无声
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She breathed deeply, savouring the silence.
她深深地吸了口气，细细品味着这宁静。
3 N-UNCOUNT [oft poss NOUN] 缄默;绝口不提;闭口不谈 Someone's silence about something is their failure or refusal to speak to other people about it. 缄默;绝口不提;闭口不谈
If someone
breaks their
silence about something, they talk about something that they have not talked about before or for a long time.
打破沉默;不再三缄其口;开口说话 4 VERB 使安静;使无声;使不说话 To silence someone or something means to stop them speaking or making a noise. 使安静;使无声;使不说话
SYN quieten, still, quiet, cut off
5 VERB 制止，使不再发表(反对意见) If someone silences you, they stop you expressing opinions that they do not agree with. 制止，使不再发表(反对意见)
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Like other tyrants, he tried to silence anyone who spoke out against him. [VERB noun]
像其他暴君一样，他力图压制任何公开反对他的人。
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...an unsuccessful attempt by the government to silence the debate. [VERB noun]
政府试图压制争论但未果
SYN suppress, gag, muzzle, censor
6 VERB 杀…灭口 To silence someone means to kill them in order to stop them revealing something secret. 杀…灭口
SYN kill, do in [informal] , eliminate [slang] , take out [slang]
Quotations
Silence is the virtue of fools Francis Bacon Advancement of Learning
Silence is more eloquent than words Thomas Carlyle Heroes and Hero-Worship
| Word Partnership | Use silence with: |
| ADJ. | awkward silence, complete silence, long silence, sudden silence, total silence 1 |
| VERB. | silence falls, listen in silence, observe a silence, sit in silence, watch something in silence 1 break a/ your silence 2 3 |
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