different between muted vs mellow

English

Adjective

muted (comparative more muted, superlative most muted)

1. Not expressed strongly or openly.
2. (of a sound) Quiet or soft.
3. (of color) Subdued.

Verb

muted

1. simple past tense and past participle of mute

English

Etymology

From Middle English melowe, melwe (“soft, sweet, juicy”), variant of Middle English merow, merwe (“soft, tender”), from Old English meru, mearu (“tender, soft, callow, delicate, frail”), from Proto-Germanic *marwaz (“mellow”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer(w)- (“to rub, pack”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian muur (“tender”), West Frisian murf (“tender”), Dutch murw (“tender”), German Low German möör (“tender”), German mürbe (“tender, soft”), Old Norse mör (“tender; aching”), Icelandic meyr (“tender”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?l??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?lo?/

• Rhymes: -?l??

Adjective

mellow (comparative mellower or more mellow, superlative mellowest or most mellow)

1. Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.

2. Easily worked or penetrated; not hard or rigid.

   • flowers of rank and mellow glebe

3. Not coarse, rough, or harsh; subdued, soft, rich, delicate; said of sound, color, flavor, style, etc.
   • 1820, William Wordsworth, The Valley of Dover

     the mellow horn

   • 1821, James Gates Percival, Prometheus

     The tender flush whose mellow stain imbues / Heaven with all freaks of light.

4. Well matured; softened by years; genial; jovial.
   • December 11, 1834, William Wordsworth, to Samuel Rogers Esq

     May health return to mellow age.

   • as merry and mellow an old bachelor as ever followed a hound

5. Relaxed; calm; easygoing; laid-back.
6. Warmed by liquor, slightly intoxicated, stoned, or high.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Addison to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (tender): See Thesaurus:soft
• (not hard): yielding; See also Thesaurus:soft
• (not harsh): merry
• (genial): convivial, gay, genial, jovial
• (relaxed): easy-breezy, casual
• (slightly intoxicated): See Thesaurus:drunk or Thesaurus:stoned

Derived terms

• mellowness

Translations

Noun

mellow (plural mellows)

1. A relaxed mood.

Derived terms

• harsh one's mellow

Verb

mellow (third-person singular simple present mellows, present participle mellowing, simple past and past participle mellowed)

1. (transitive) To make mellow; to relax or soften.
2. (intransitive) To become mellow.
   • 1592-94, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act IV Scene 4

     So now prosperity begins to mellow
     And drop into the rotten mouth of death.

Derived terms

• mellow out
• unmellowed