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# muffled

«muffled» in Mova's school dictionary: **in the way, as in "a muffled voice"** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb form (past tense and past participle of muffle: muffle, muffles, muffled, muffling); adjective (muffled)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (adjective) Quiet and unclear because something is in the way, as in "a muffled voice". [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffled/#m1)

2) Made a sound quieter by covering it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffled/#m2)

3) Wrapped up warmly, as in "muffled up in scarves". [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffled/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

Used in science (sound travels less well through soft materials, which absorb it) and a lot in stories to build mystery: "a muffled cry", "muffled footsteps", "muffled voices behind the door". Phrases: "muffled up", "a muffled sound".

### examples

- I heard muffled voices from the next room. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffled/#x1)
- Her answer was muffled because her face was in the pillow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffled/#x2)
- The snow muffled the sound of our footsteps. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffled/#x3)
- There was a muffled thump in the attic. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffled/#x4)
- We wrapped the alarm clock in a towel and its ring was muffled. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffled/#x5)
- The children were muffled up in coats and scarves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffled/#x6)
- In science we tested which materials muffled sound best. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffled/#x7)
- A queer sound could be heard, soft as a little bell, and faint and muffled like the buzz of a far-away mosquito. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muffled/#x8)

### note

Spelling: double f. Adjective use is the most common ("a muffled shout"). Related: "muffler" (an old word for a scarf; in the US, the part of a car that makes the engine quieter).

### In the corpora

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