different between soundless vs peaceful

English

Etymology

From sound +? -less.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /sa?ndl?s/
• Hyphenation: sound?less

Adjective

soundless (comparative more soundless, superlative most soundless)

1. Without sound.

   Synonyms: noiseless, silent

   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act V, Scene 1,^[1]

     Cassius. […] for your words, they rob the Hybla bees,

     And leave them honeyless.

     Antony. Not stingless too.

     Brutus. O yes, and soundless too;

     For you have stol’n their buzzing, Antony,

     And very wisely threat before you sting.

   • 1663, Robert Boyle, Some Considerations Touching the Usefulness of Experimental Naturall Philosophy, Oxford: Richard Davis, Essay 2, p. 49,^[2]

     The Psalmist observes, That the Heavens declare the glory of God: And indeed, they celebrate his Praises, though with a soundless Voice, yet with so loud a one […] to our intellectual Ears, that he scruples not to affirm, that There is no Speech nor Language where their voice is not heard […]

   • 1797, Ann Radcliffe, The Italian, London: T. Cadell Junior & W. Davies, Volume 2, Chapter 7, p. 225,^[3]

     The whole building, with its dark windows and soundless avenues, had an air strikingly forlorn and solitary.

   • 1839, Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher” in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine, Volume 5, September 1839, p. 145,^[4]

     During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hang oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country […]

   • 1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, London: Grant Richards, 1898, XXXVIII, p. 55,^[5]

     The names of men blow soundless by,

     My fellows’ and my own.

2. Not capable of being sounded or fathomed.

   Synonyms: bottomless, depthless, fathomless, unfathomable

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 80,^[6]

     Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat,

     Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride;

   • 1614, Christopher Brooke, The Ghost of Richard the Third, London: L. Lisle, “The Legend of Richard the Third,”^[7]

     Nor Wits, nor Chronicles could ere containe,

     The Hell-deepe Reaches, of my soundlesse Braine.

   • 1881, Walt Whitman, “Out from Behind This Mask (To Confront a Portrait)” in Leaves of Grass, London: David Bogue, p. 296,^[8]

     This heart’s geography’s map, this limitless small continent, this soundless sea;

Derived terms

• soundlessly
• soundlessness

Related terms

• sound

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• peacefull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English peesful, pesful, paisful, pesefull, equivalent to peace +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pi?sf?l/
• Hyphenation: peace?ful

Adjective

peaceful (comparative more peaceful or peacefuller or peacefuler, superlative most peaceful or peacefullest or peacefulest)

1. Not at war or disturbed by strife or turmoil.

   Antonyms: warring, at war
2. Inclined to peace.

   Synonyms: peaceable, pacific

   Antonyms: belligerent, violent

3. Motionless and calm.

   Synonyms: tranquil, placid, still

Derived terms

Translations