deafening silence
Loudly saying nothing
A deafening silence is a conspicuous absence of sound or response where you expect noise or speech.
The paradox captures how silence can feel overwhelming—as attention-grabbing as a loud noise: His question was met with deafening silence.
Often describes the lack of expected comment or acknowledgment: The administration's deafening silence on the scandal spoke volumes.
- oxymoronSelf-contradicting phrase device
- pregnant pauseSignificant silence conveying unspoken meaning
- awkward pauseUncomfortable lull in conversation
- cold shoulderIntentional dismissive treatment
- brick wallStacked masonry partition
elephant in the room · hush · paradox · quiet · still · irony · stunned · tumbleweed moment · palpable · void · suffocating · soundlessness · hyperbole · absence · noiselessness · anticipation · mute · waiting
- oxymoronsbittersweet, pretty ugly, living dead, act naturally, alone together
- Nonsense & Oxymoronsparadox, contradiction, nonsense, gibberish, balderdash
- paradoxescatch-22, Zeno's paradox, Zeno's paradoxes, causal loop, bootstrap paradox