voiceless

/ˈvɔɪslɪs/

/ˈvɔɪsləs/

Other forms: voicelessly

Someone who can't speak, either literally or figuratively, is voiceless. Your sore throat may leave you voiceless for a couple of days, and the youngest child in a family might feel voiceless when it comes to making to big family decisions.

If you suffer from laryngitis, you're temporarily voiceless, unable to use your voice to speak. Someone who's mute, for a physical or psychological reason, is often permanently voiceless. It's also common to use this adjective for people so powerless that they're unable to express their needs or desires: "Women in that country have been voiceless for a long time, but that's finally beginning to change."

Definitions of voiceless

1. adjective

   produced without vibration of the vocal cords
   synonyms: hard, surd, unvoiced

   whispered

   spoken in soft hushed tones without vibrations of the vocal cords
2. adjective

   uttered without voice
   “voiceless whispers”

   synonyms: breathed

   inaudible, unhearable

   impossible to hear; imperceptible by the ear
3. adjective

   being without sound through injury or illness and thus incapable of all but whispered speech
   synonyms: aphonic

   inarticulate, unarticulate

   without or deprived of the use of speech or words
4. adjective

   deprived of the rights of citizenship especially the right to vote
   “labor was voiceless”

   synonyms: disenfranchised, disfranchised, voteless
5. adjective

   without the power to express opinions or be in control