A voiceless speech sound is one that is produced without vibration of the vocal cords.
[technical]
...the voiceless 'th'.
2. adjective
Someone who is voiceless is unable to speak.
[written]
His voiceless lips formed the words 'Thank you'.
voiceless in British English
(ˈvɔɪslɪs)
adjective
1.
without a voice; mute
2.
not articulated
voiceless misery
3.
lacking a musical voice
4.
silent
5.
without the power or right to express an opinion
6. phonetics
articulated without accompanying vibration of the vocal cords
in English (p) is a voiceless consonant
Derived forms
voicelessly (ˈvoicelessly)
adverb
voicelessness (ˈvoicelessness)
noun
voiceless in American English
(ˈvɔɪslɪs)
adjective
1.
having no voice; dumb; mute
2.
not speaking; silent
3.
not spoken; not uttered
a voiceless wish
4.
lacking a musical voice or the ability to sing
5.
having no voice, or vote; lacking suffrage
6. Phonetics
articulated without simultaneous vibration of the vocal cords; surd
said of certain consonants, as (p), (s), and (ch)
SYNONYMY NOTE: voiceless is applied to one who has no voice, either from birth or through deprivation [the throat operation left him voiceless]; speechless usually implies temporary or momentary deprivation of the ability to speak [speechless with horror]; dumb implies a lack of the power of speech and is now more often applied to brute animalsand inanimate objects than to persons with impaired speech organs [a dumb beast]; mute is applied to persons incapable of speech, specif. as because of congenital deafnessand not through absence or impairment of the speech organs
OPPOSITE: articulate
Derived forms
voicelessly (ˈvoicelessly)
adverb
voicelessness (ˈvoicelessness)
noun
Examples of 'voiceless' in a sentence
voiceless
To her utter bewilderment his thin lips curl into a half smile, and his eyes sparkle as he lets out a voiceless laugh, a slight rush of air.