silence
part of speech
noun (silence, silences); verb (silence, silences, silenced, silencing)
meaning for a pupil
1) Silence is when there is no sound at all. tree →
2) Silence is also when people are not talking. tree →
3) To silence means to make someone or something quiet. tree →
4) A minute's silence is a short time when people stay quiet to remember someone. tree →
sense in the lessons
In school, teachers ask for silence during tests and in the library. In ceremonies, like Remembrance Day (UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) or a funeral, people keep a minute's silence. In stories, silence builds suspense or shows someone is upset. Phrases: in silence, break the silence, a minute's silence, silence please, an awkward silence.
examples
- And Moses and the priests the Levites spoke unto all Israel, saying: 'Keep silence, and hear, O Israel; this day thou art become a people unto the LORD thy God. (Torah DEU.27.9, JPS 1917) tree →
- O God of my praise, keep not silence; (Writings PSA.109.1, JPS 1917) tree →
- These things hast thou done, and should I have kept silence? (Writings PSA.50.21, JPS 1917) tree →
- Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel. (Writings JOB.29.21, JPS 1917) tree →
- Silence, please! The test has started. tree →
- We walked through the forest in silence. tree →
- A loud bang broke the silence. tree →
- There was a long silence after the bad news. tree →
- The class kept a minute's silence for the soldiers. tree →
- She silenced her phone in the cinema. tree →
- In the silence we could hear an owl. tree →
- His silence told me he was upset. tree →
- There was a splash, and then silence. tree →
note
Usually uncountable (some silence, a long silence is also fine). Adjective: silent; adverb: silently. «Quiet» means a little noise; silence means none. Silence is not the same as agreeing; you can say no.
In the corpora
- And the peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
- Therefore the prudent doth keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time.
- But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.
- When I kept silence, my bones wore away through my groaning all the day long.
- Thou hast seen, O LORD; keep not silence; O Lord, be not far from me.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «silence» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.