Dumb vs. Mute — What's the Difference?

Lacking the power of speech. Used of animals and inanimate objects.

Refraining from producing speech or vocal sound.

(Offensive) Incapable of using speech; mute. Used of humans. See Usage Note at mute.

(Offensive) Unable to speak.

Temporarily speechless, as with shock or fear

Unable to vocalize, as certain animals.

Unwilling to speak; taciturn.

Expressed without speech; unspoken

Not expressed or articulated in sounds or words

(Law) Declining to enter a plea to a criminal charge

(Nautical) Not self-propelling.

Not pronounced; silent, as the e in the word house.

Conspicuously unintelligent; stupid

Pronounced with a temporary stoppage of breath, as the sounds (p) and (b); plosive; stopped.

Unintentional; haphazard

(Offensive) One who is incapable of speech.

To make silent or dumb.

(Law) A defendant who declines to enter a plea to a criminal charge.

(dated) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech (kept in "deaf, dumb, and blind").

(Music) Any of various devices used to muffle or soften the tone of an instrument.

(dated) Silent; unaccompanied by words.

A silent letter.

Extremely stupid.

A plosive; a stop.

(figuratively) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.

To soften or muffle the sound of.

Lacking brightness or clearness, as a colour.

To soften the tone, color, shade, or hue of.

To silence.

Not having the power of speech; dumb.

(transitive) To make stupid.

Silent; not making a sound.

(transitive) To represent as stupid.

Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; said of certain letters.

(transitive) To reduce the intellectual demands of.

Not giving a ringing sound when struck; said of a metal.

Destitute of the power of speech; unable; to utter articulate sounds; as, the dumb brutes.

A stopped consonant; a stop.

Not willing to speak; mute; silent; not speaking; not accompanied by words; as, dumb show.

An actor who does not speak; a mime performer.

Lacking brightness or clearness, as a color.

A person who does not have the power of speech.

To put to silence.

A hired mourner at a funeral; an undertaker's assistant.

Slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity;

(music) An object for dulling the sound of an instrument, especially a brass instrument, or damper for pianoforte; a sordine.

Unable to speak temporarily;

An electronic switch or control that mutes the sound.

Lacking the power of human speech;

A mute swan.

Unable to speak because of hereditary deafness

The faeces of a hawk or falcon.

(transitive) To silence, to make quiet.

(transitive) To turn off the sound of.

Of a bird: to defecate.

(transitive) To cast off; to moult.

To cast off; to molt.

To eject the contents of the bowels; - said of birds.

The dung of birds.

One who does not speak, whether from physical inability, unwillingness, or other cause.

A letter which represents no sound; a silent letter; also, a close articulation; an element of speech formed by a position of the mouth organs which stops the passage of the breath; as, p, b, d, k, t.

A little utensil made of brass, ivory, or other material, so formed that it can be fixed in an erect position on the bridge of a violin, or similar instrument, in order to deaden or soften the tone.

Not speaking; uttering no sound; silent.

Incapable of speaking; dumb.

Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; - said of certain letters. See 5th Mute, 2.

Not giving a ringing sound when struck; - said of a metal.

A deaf person who is unable to speak

A device used to soften the tone of a musical instrument

Deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping

Expressed without speech; especially because words would be inappropriate or inadequate;

Lacking power of speech

Unable to speak because of hereditary deafness