Meaning & use
muffle sound
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Meaning
phrasetransitive
To make a sound quieter or less clear, usually by blocking it with something.
Grammar: Takes an object: muffle the sound. You can also say muffle a noise or muffle your voice.
Patterns
- muffle the sound
- muffle a sound
- muffle sounds
She put a thick blanket over the drum to muffle the sound.
The walls are designed to muffle sound from the busy road outside.
He held his hand over his mouth to muffle the sound of his coughing.
Word forms
| third person singular | muffles sound |
|---|---|
| past tense | muffled sound |
| past participle | muffled sound |
| -ing form | muffling sound |
Common combinations
- muffle the sound of something
- The heavy curtains muffle the sound of traffic.
- muffle a noise
- He turned the music down to muffle the noise.
- muffle your voice
- She used a scarf to muffle her voice.
- help muffle sound
- Carpets help muffle sound in a room.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dampen
- Dampen means to make a sound less strong, often in a technical way; muffle is more about blocking or covering the source.
- deaden
- Deaden means to make a sound less loud or sharp, often by using special material; muffle is more general.
- soften
- Soften means to make a sound gentler; muffle suggests covering or wrapping something so the sound cannot escape clearly.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: muffle sound or muffle?
muffle sound vs muffle
Muffle is the verb; muffle sound is the full phrase. You cannot say 'muffle sound' without an article if you mean a specific sound: say 'muffle the sound'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'muffle sound' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Muffle sound is a transitive phrase, so it needs an object: 'muffle the sound' is correct. Option 0 has wrong word order, option 2 uses 'to' incorrectly, and option 3 is missing 'the' before 'sound'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “muffle sound”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.