muffle

More prosperity: Active noise cancellation has gotten good enough to muffle airplane noise and it’s almost there for human voices in offices.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 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

Neustadter, an executive producer here as well, notes, “When we meet Clare in our series, she’s trying to muffle her pain, but it’s always with her.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2023

The change, on the heels of a risk assessment done by the government, would likely muffle access to information showing changes in public sentiment toward the city.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 21, 2023

I think she covers her mouth with a towel to muffle her sobs.

From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez

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

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

It dampens our desires and muffles our joy.

From Slate ● Feb. 10, 2021

There aren’t as many people here, and the shade between two houses also muffles all the songs around us, but it also means we don’t have the best view.

From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender

Several muffled booms were heard in the distance.

From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026

On the Alto K98M, that click-clackiness is muffled by a rubbery internal gasket surrounding the keys.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 23, 2025

Combined with the coloured, shimmering floor and walls, and a soundtrack of muffled voices, gongs and bird calls, it all creates a powerful if unnerving feeling of floating in another realm.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2025

Overall, sounds would be quieter and slightly muffled, and it would also take longer to reach you than it would on Earth.

From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2025

She fell to the floor with a muffled bump, her hair at least cushioning the blow.

From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley

"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

The strings’ opening melody in the Rachmaninoff had Romantic grandeur and beguiling translucence, blanketing but not muffling the piano’s arpeggios with gauzy tone.

From New York Times ● Apr. 14, 2024

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

Once my skin is free of the gel, hot air blows from the blanket’s inner lining over my body, muffling the noises in the room.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera