Noiseless

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Making no sound or remarkably quiet in operation or movement
2. Producing no audible sound or being free of noise during function or activity
3. Characterized by a complete absence of sound or maintaining silence in behavior or mechanism

Etymology: "Noiseless" is a plain compound: "noise" with the suffix "-less," which means "without." The suffix traces back through Old English "-lēas," a word that meant "free from" or "lacking," and its ancestry runs to the same prehistoric root that gave English "loose" and "lose." In other words, the "-less" in "noiseless" is the same element that appears in "fearless" or "homeless," and it has carried the sense of absence since the earliest records of English. The base word "noise" came into English from Old French "noise," meaning a quarrel or outcry, and before that it derives from Latin "nausea," which in earlier Latin meant seasickness. Its original sense was a din or outcry, and the broader meaning of any sound grew from there. Putting the two parts together gives a word that simply describes something lacking that din, so the formation itself is the whole story.

Synonyms: silent, quiet, still, hushed, calm

Antonyms: noisy, loud, boisterous, clamorous, racket