silence do the talking
- idiom
- Informal
:
el silencio habla
- Sometimes, it's best to let silence do the talking.
Examples
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Sometimes, you don't have to respond; just letting silence do the talking is enough.
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Let silence do the talking!
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After his unexpected resignation, his silence do the talking about his disappointment with the company.
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In the tense meeting, her silence do the talking, making everyone aware of her disapproval.
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In the heated debate, he chose to let silence do the talking, allowing his opponent to feel the weight of his non-response.
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During the argument, she decided to let silence do the talking, which made it clear she was not in favor of the proposal.
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When asked about the scandal, he let silence do the talking, hinting at his deep discomfort with the situation.
Synonyms
31
5.7
To show a lot without using words
3
4.6
A complete, very noticeable lack of sound when no one answers
How Expressive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning — that silence communicates as effectively as speech — is directly derivable from composing 'silence' with 'do the talking' (i.e., performing speech). This is a simple, cross-linguistically common metaphorical agent-action composition, so an average B1 learner who knows the constituent words will likely understand it.
Etymology
The phrase silence do the talking comes from the simple image of silence acting like a speaker: when someone stays quiet, their silence shows feelings or meaning instead of words, so it 'speaks' for them and means 'to communicate without words'.