🔫 Gun noise reducer 🚗 Exhaust noise reducer

silencer

24 7.4

A short tube fixed to the end of a gun to make the shot quieter

noun
/ˈsaɪlənsər/

Specialized

: silenciador

The detectives found a weapon with a silencer attached, which muffled the sound of gunfire.
gun silencers
pistol and silencer
rifle with a silencer

Examples

Already, Terrell has drawn and aimed a silencer-equipped .40 caliber.

Fiction book (1997)
Each man unzipped his canvas bag and removed a pistol with a silencer affixed.

Fiction book (1994)
Well, you can put a silencer on a gun.

Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
It's got a silencer on it.

Gloria (1999)
His gun, with the silencer in place, was in his right hand.

Fiction book (1992)
Why not a gun with a silencer?

Into the Flames (2021)
I had the Makarov with the silencer on.

The Forgiven (2018)
Two shots from a pistol with a silencer strike him in the chest, and he falls to the floor dead.

Fiction book (1999)
As he walked to the car, he unscrewed his silencer from his gun.

Fiction book (1992)
The gun that was used to kill Irina was a beretta with some kind of silencer.

The Building (2009)

Synonyms

suppressor

vssilencer

Specialized

3 7.4

A device that makes a gun or machine sound quieter

is a short tube attached to a muzzle that reduces firing noise

baffler

vssilencer

Specialized

8.3

A plate or screen that slows and directs flow in a machine

is a muzzle tube designed specifically to lower the sound of firing

How Quiet

silencer

Specialized

24 7.4

suppressor

Specialized

3 7.4

Surface Forms

silencer singular

silencers plural

Morphology

silencer = silence (transparent) = silence + er

The formation is the same instrumentive '-er' on 'silence'; the firearm attachment is an instrument to reduce sound.

Etymology

The word silencer comes from silence ('quiet') and the ending -er meaning 'something that does'. So a gun silencer is a device that makes a shot quieter, which is why people call it a 'silencer' even though it rarely makes a shot completely silent.