obmutescence

(ˌɒbmjuːˈtɛsəns)

archaic persistent silence

[C17: from Latin obmūtescere to become mute]

ˌobmuˈtescent adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

obmutescence

, obmutescent - Obmutescence is the act of becoming mute or silent—usually a stubborn, willful act; if you are inclined to silence, you are obmutescent.

obmutescence

Obsolete, loss of speech or the act of keeping silence.

See also: Speech

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References in periodicals archive ?

Both explanations of the thorough obmutescence with regard to the psychological and physical terror exerted by priests and nuns, for many long decades, in Ireland as well as in other countries--a case to which I will return later--seamlessly fit into what may be designated as the dominant paradigms of social silence or forgetfulness: the paradigm of hegemonic memory and the paradigm of traumatic memory.

In many respects, the "shattering of the silence" (Leydesdorff) around the history of the Nazi genocide and the memories of its survivors, as part of a changing commemorative culture--a phenomenon which, in a sense, challenges the very idea of "collective trauma"--parallels the rupture of the decades-lasting obmutescence with regard to the psychological and physical terror within the Catholic Church, in Ireland as well as in other countries.