silent as the grave
"silent-as-the-grave" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“silent as the grave” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 19
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Saying absolutely nothing (especially about a particular subject).
Corpus desk
Index EN-silent-as-the-grave · silent as the grave · English
silent as the grave · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 19 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | silent as the grave |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 19 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “silent as the grave” in English
Rare enough to double-check
silent as the grave is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for silent as the grave, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Perhaps connected to the idea of taking a secret to the grave, or the idea that dead men tell no tales. The correct English form is silent as the grave, spelled S-I-L-E-N-T- -A-S- -T-H-E- -G-R-A-V-E.
Definition
- 1Saying absolutely nothing (especially about a particular subject).
- 2Deathly still and silent.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how silent as the grave appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The investigation is ongoing, but all the suspects have been silent as the grave so far.
“Livesey,” returned the squire, “you are always in the right of it. I’ll be as silent as the grave.”
Etymology
Perhaps connected to the idea of taking a secret to the grave, or the idea that dead men tell no tales.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.