different between dumb vs voiceless

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Etymology 1

From Middle English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, ineffectual”), from Old English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, unable to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *dumb, from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz (“dull, dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?ewb?- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”).

The senses of stupid, unintellectual, and pointless, which are found regularly since the 19th century only, probably developed under the influence of German dumm and Dutch dom. Just like the English word, these originally meant "lacking the power of speech", but they developed the mentioned senses early on.

Adjective

dumb (comparative dumber, superlative dumbest)

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

   Synonyms: dumbstruck, mute, speechless, wordless

   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures

2. (dated) Silent; unaccompanied by words.
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act II, sc. 4:

     Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak

     In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 23:

     O let my books be then the eloquence

     And dumb presagers of my speaking breast ...

   • 1881, John Campbell Shairp, Aspects of Poetry

     to pierce into the dumb past

3. (informal, derogatory, especially of a person) Extremely stupid.

   Synonyms: feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid; see also Thesaurus:stupid

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

   Synonyms: banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgar

5. Lacking brightness or clearness, as a colour.
   • 1720, Daniel Defoe, The Life, Adventures and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton

     Her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun color.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English dumben, from Old English dumbian (more commonly in compound ?dumbian (“to become mute or dumb; keep silence; hold one’s peace”)), from Proto-Germanic *dumbijan?, *dumb?n? (“to be silent, become dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?ewb?- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with German verdummen (“to become dumb”).

Verb

dumb (third-person singular simple present dumbs, present participle dumbing, simple past and past participle dumbed)

1. (dated) To silence.
   • 1607, William Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra, Act I, sc. 5:

     ... what I would have spoke

     Was beastly dumbed by him.
2. (transitive) To make stupid.
3. (transitive) To represent as stupid.
4. (transitive) To reduce the intellectual demands of.

Derived terms

Middle English

Alternative forms

• domb, doumb, dowmb, dom, domm, dum, doum, dowm, domp, doump

Etymology

From Old English dumb

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?dum(b)/, /?du?m(b)/

Adjective

dumb (plural and weak singular dumbe)

1. Lacking or failing to display the faculty of voice:
   1. Unspeaking; unable to speak or having muteness.
   2. (substantive) A mute; one who can't speak.
   3. Temporarily unable to speak due to strong emotions.
   4. Unwilling or reluctant to speak; not speaking.
2. Powerless, ineffectual (either inherently or due to events)
3. Unknowledgeable; having no understanding or sense.
4. (of animals) Unwilling or unable to make a noise; quiet or silent.
5. (rare) Unrevealing, useless; having no important messages or lessons.
6. (rare) Having nothing to keep one busy or engaged.
7. (rare, figuratively) Refusing to preach or evangelise.
8. (rare, figuratively) Refusing to be conceited or vainglorious.

Derived terms

• dombenesse
• dumben

Descendants

• English: dumb
• Scots: dumb

References

• “d?mb, d?umb, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-04-27.

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *dumb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dumb/

Adjective

dumb

1. mute, dumb (unable to speak)
2. (substantive) a mute
   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Luke 11:14

Declension

Related terms

• dumbnes

Descendants

• Middle English: dumb
  • Scots: dumb
  • English: dumb

English

Etymology

voice +? -less

Adjective

voiceless (not comparable)

1. Lacking a voice, without vocal sound.
   • 1994, Loreena McKennitt, The Mystic's Dream

     A voiceless song in an ageless light / Sings at the coming dawn / Birds in flight are calling there / Where the heart moves the stones / It's there that my heart is calling / All for the love of you.

2. (figuratively) Without a vote; having no input into a decision.
3. (phonetics, of a consonant) Spoken without vibration of the vocal cords; unvoiced, surd. Examples: [t], [s], [f].

Synonyms

• inaudible
• silent
• unvoiced

Antonyms

• audible
• vocal
• voiced

Translations

See also

• speechless