si‧lence 1 W2 / saɪləns / 名词

1 no noise [不可数名词] complete absence of sound or noise 同义词 quiet

silence of

Nothing disturbed the silence of the night.

silence falls/descends (on/upon something)

After the explosion, an eerie silence fell upon the scene.

break/shatter the silence

A loud scream shattered the silence.

2 no talking [可数和不可数名词] complete quiet because nobody is talking :

There was a brief silence before anyone answered.

in silence

The four men sat in silence.

complete/total/dead silence

‘How long have you been here?’ I asked. There was complete silence.

‘Silence in court!’ roared the judge.

embarrassed/awkward/stunned etc silence

There was an awkward silence between them.

The accused exercised his right to silence (= the legal right to choose to say nothing ) .

3 no discussion/answer [不可数名词] failure or refusal to discuss something or answer questions about something

silence on

The government’s silence on such an important issue seems very strange.

Once again the answer was a deafening silence (= a very noticeable refusal to discuss something ) .

4 no communication [不可数名词] failure to write a letter to someone, telephone them etc :

After two years of silence, he suddenly got in touch with us again.

5 one-minute/two-minute etc silence a period of time in which everyone stops talking as a sign of honour and respect towards someone who has died

COLLOCATIONS

形容词

complete/total/absolute/utter silence They sat in complete silence. | The silence in the room was absolute.

dead silence (= complete silence ) There was a gasp from Peter and then a dead silence.

a long silence ‘He’s dead.’ There was a long silence.

a short/brief silence After a brief silence, Katherine nodded.

an awkward/uncomfortable/embarrassed silence ‘Fred tells me you like books,’ Steve said, after an awkward silence.

a stunned/shocked silence There was a stunned silence at the other end of the phone.

stony silence (= unfriendly silence ) Harrison stared at him in stony silence.

a tense silence There was a brief, tense silence.

an eerie silence (= one that is strange and rather frightening ) An eerie silence descended over the house.

an ominous silence (= one that makes you feel that something bad is going to happen ) ‘How long will she be ill?’ There was a short, ominous silence.

a sudden silence At the mention of John, a sudden silence fell on the room.

动词

there is (a) silence There was silence in the library for several moments.

break/shatter the silence (= end the silence ) The sound of a car engine broke the silence.

disturb the silence (= end the silence by making a sound ) Nothing moved, no sound disturbed the silence.

silence falls/descends (= a silence begins ) A sudden silence fell over the room.

lapse into silence (= to stop talking and be quiet ) ‘I don’t want any,’ he said, and lapsed into silence again.