reduce (one) to silence

To cause one to become silent, especially after being noisy or outspoken. The loud bang reduced the entire classroom to silence. I've had my vocal critics over the years, but I have faith that my next project will reduce them all to silence.

reduce someone to silence

to cause someone to be silent. The rebuke reduced him to silence—at last. Mary was reduced to silence by Jane's comments.

See also: reduce, silence, to

See also:

References in periodicals archive

"The systematic kidnapping of journalists critical of the Houthis clearly shows the willingness of this rebel group to impose its power and reduce to silence all opposition," the statement added, warning all sides in the conflict that attacking journalists was a violation of the Geneva Conventions and was a War Crime.

RWB "deeply concerned" by Houthi attacks on journalists in Yemen

As we grappled with the slippery surfaces of our stories, we asked, 'Who authors this silence?' In humanist theory the author of each silence is in control, holds the right to include and exclude, to make silent, reduire a silence, reduce to silence. We kept slipping into the binary of silencer and silenced, finding 'silenced' always the subordinate term.

Ruptures in the skin of silence: a collective biography

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