muffle

Grace now uses ear defenders every night, but they only muffle the sound rather than blocking it out entirely.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

And Mr. Knight is also superb as James tries to muffle his own fears the better to lessen his wife’s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

I watched as the woman cuffed the phone receiver, attempting, ironically, to muffle the private information she was giving to a 13-year-old.

From Slate ● Dec. 12, 2023

There were also hundreds of people in the building, others in the area and cars in the parking lot that would muffle and deflect sounds.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 12, 2023

She rolled extra bolts of silk in front of the grate to muffle the sound.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Mr. Orhan offsets the novel’s magical realism with plainspoken prose that muffles Dilara’s increasingly volatile desires.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026

The visible clutter sets off a contagious, slightly embarrassed giggle, which she muffles with her hands.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2025

The design of hearing aids muffles or blocks almost all of the natural unamplified sounds that stream into your ear canal.

From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2024

Gestational diabetes most commonly occurs during the third trimester of pregnancy when a woman’s body naturally muffles insulin signals, sparking labor difficulties for the woman and long-term afflictions for a newborn baby.

From Washington Times ● May 31, 2023

This muffles what the boys are saying out loud—because I can hear that, too, of course—but nothing stops me from hearing their thoughts.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

One caveat: So much former junk-bond issuance has migrated to private credit that the signal may now be more muffled.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

Collins stood outside for several agonizing minutes, hearing their muffled voices.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

I filled him in and suddenly heard something muffled, his hand over the speaker.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Several muffled booms were heard in the distance.

From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026

I could hear their muffled, furious shouts from inside.

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

"But a quantum computer acts like noise-canceling headphones that compare combinations of answers, amplifying the right ones while muffling the wrong ones."

From Science Daily ● Feb. 2, 2026

Seated on his sofa in a button-down shirt, worn Levi’s and blue-rimmed round glasses, Duncan offers me a chair and keeps distractions at bay, at one point muffling his ringing cellphone with a throw pillow.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2023

Giant arborvitae trees flank Maude’s Garden on Seattle’s First Hill, muffling the hum of city traffic for this tiny therapeutic oasis.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 22, 2023

Wearing hats and headscarves compromised her hearing further, however, due to the fabric muffling her hearing aids.

From BBC ● May 15, 2022

I pull one of her pillows over my head, muffling my words.

From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy