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# muffle

«muffle» in Mova's school dictionary: **to make it quieter and less clear, for example by…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (muffle, muffles, muffled, muffling); noun (a muffle — rare)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To muffle a sound is to make it quieter and less clear, for example by covering it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffle/#m1)

2) To muffle someone or something up is to wrap them in warm clothes or cloth. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffle/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons on sound, materials like foam, cloth and egg boxes muffle sound by absorbing vibrations. In stories muffled voices come through a wall or muffled footsteps in snow make a scene mysterious. Phrases: «muffled voices», «muffle the sound», «muffled up against the cold».

### examples

- The thick snow muffled our footsteps. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffle/#x1)
- We heard muffled voices through the wall. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffle/#x2)
- She muffled her giggles with a pillow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffle/#x3)
- We tested which material muffles sound best. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffle/#x4)
- The children were muffled up in scarves and hats. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffle/#x5)
- Car mufflers (US) make engines quieter. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffle/#x6)

### note

Past form «muffled». Related: «muffler» (a scarf, UK old-fashioned; a car exhaust silencer, US). Muffling does not stop sound completely; it reduces it.

### In the corpora

- [Owl wing feathers have comb-like front edges, soft fringes and a velvety surface that muffle the sound of flying.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/34-birds-of-prey-and-owls/8/)
- [Your dog is fast asleep on the rug, but its paws are paddling, its lips twitch and it gives tiny muffled woofs.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/0/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «muffle» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffle/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.