muffled

«muffled» in Mova's school dictionary: in the way, as in "a muffled voice" — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb form (past tense and past participle of muffle: muffle, muffles, muffled, muffling); adjective (muffled)

meaning for a pupil

1) (adjective) Quiet and unclear because something is in the way, as in "a muffled voice". tree →

2) Made a sound quieter by covering it. tree →

3) Wrapped up warmly, as in "muffled up in scarves". tree →

sense in the lessons

Used in science (sound travels less well through soft materials, which absorb it) and a lot in stories to build mystery: "a muffled cry", "muffled footsteps", "muffled voices behind the door". Phrases: "muffled up", "a muffled sound".

examples

• I heard muffled voices from the next room. tree →
• Her answer was muffled because her face was in the pillow. tree →
• The snow muffled the sound of our footsteps. tree →
• There was a muffled thump in the attic. tree →
• We wrapped the alarm clock in a towel and its ring was muffled. tree →
• The children were muffled up in coats and scarves. tree →
• In science we tested which materials muffled sound best. tree →
• A queer sound could be heard, soft as a little bell, and faint and muffled like the buzz of a far-away mosquito. tree →

note

Spelling: double f. Adjective use is the most common ("a muffled shout"). Related: "muffler" (an old word for a scarf; in the US, the part of a car that makes the engine quieter).

In the corpora

• Your dog is fast asleep on the rug, but its paws are paddling, its lips twitch and it gives tiny muffled woofs.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «muffled» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.