What's the difference between muffle and scuffle?

Muffle


Definition:

  • (n.) The bare end of the nose between the nostrils; -- used esp. of ruminants.
  • (v. t.) To wrap up in something that conceals or protects; to wrap, as the face and neck, in thick and disguising folds; hence, to conceal or cover the face of; to envelop; to inclose; -- often with up.
  • (v. t.) To prevent seeing, or hearing, or speaking, by wraps bound about the head; to blindfold; to deafen.
  • (v. t.) To wrap with something that dulls or deadens the sound of; as, to muffle the strings of a drum, or that part of an oar which rests in the rowlock.
  • (v. i.) To speak indistinctly, or without clear articulation.
  • (v. t.) Anything with which another thing, as an oar or drum, is muffled; also, a boxing glove; a muff.
  • (v. t.) An earthenware compartment or oven, often shaped like a half cylinder, used in furnaces to protect objects heated from the direct action of the fire, as in scorification of ores, cupellation of ore buttons, etc.
  • (v. t.) A small oven for baking and fixing the colors of painted or printed pottery, without exposing the pottery to the flames of the furnace or kiln.
  • (v. t.) A pulley block containing several sheaves.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Weirdly, the muffled Doppler effects of several thousand passing SUVs was quite soothing.
  • (2) True diastolic pressure is usually closer to the disappearance point of Korotkoff sounds than to the muffling phase.
  • (3) Hence his fondness for placing the camera far away from its subjects: Hidden coolly watches as a child's small world falls apart, his cries muffled by the intervening space; and Code Unknown concludes by showing how life, likened by Haneke to a flea circus, indifferently unravels on a Paris boulevard.
  • (4) The presence of a muffled voice led to radiologic and indirect laryngoscopic examination confirming the diagnosis.
  • (5) The effect of El Niño during these years compounded the muffling effect of greenhouse gases and lead to exceptionally hot global temperatures.
  • (6) I heard about three or four shots fired, but they were muffled, as if taking place indoors,” one witness told Agence France-Presse.
  • (7) Common symptoms include fever, swollen neck, difficult swallowing, muffled voice and hyperextension of the head and neck.
  • (8) In places there were moans and muffled cries beneath the ruins, spurring frantic efforts to dig people out with bare hands and improvised tools.
  • (9) The determinations of calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus in dentine showed no significant differences between LTA, muffle furnace ashing (MFA), and wet ashing.
  • (10) The policemen closed the doors, but the muffled screams continued outside.
  • (11) The samples of the mentioned tissues were dried and ashed in the muffle furnace.
  • (12) Questions will undoutedly be asked about Brown's vocal capabilities – once described by Guardian critic Alexis Petridis as "a muffled, gloomy honk, like a despondent goose wearing a balaclava" – and whether the band, now in middle-age, will be able to capture the heady excitement of their early days.
  • (13) For some it sounded muffled and far away, as though somewhere in the distance a big balloon had popped.
  • (14) Once again, Vince Cable is a rather lonely prophet worrying where this will lead, but this time a voice of warning somewhat muffled by collective responsibility.
  • (15) Fabricant, who was strongly involved in the Tory campaign in Eastleigh, tweeted: "The Conservative voice is muffled and not crisp.
  • (16) But instead of a traditional riot or at least some minor destruction, the place was filled with well-behaved individuals, talking in the "inside voices" with muffled jubilation (even when the US won!).
  • (17) Abnormal or muffled heart sounds associated with pericarditis and epicarditis was the most common sequela, occurring in 40 cases.
  • (18) The polite approach of London Citizens has so far yielded muffled responses, but the issue will be raised at a November board meeting: if there is no decisive yes, expect the gloves to come off, and more direct action, including a shoppers' boycott.
  • (19) Inadequate velopharyngeal function, whether congenital or subsequent to palatal repair, may be masked by the presence of other speech problems in this syndrome, particularly by the "muffled" voice quality which appears to be associated with an elevated and retracted tongue posture.
  • (20) Extreme sore throat, pooling of oral secretions, muffled voice, and elevated temperature were uncommon.

Scuffle


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To strive or struggle with a close grapple; to wrestle in a rough fashion.
  • (v. i.) Hence, to strive or contend tumultuously; to struggle confusedly or at haphazard.
  • (n.) A rough, haphazard struggle, or trial of strength; a disorderly wrestling at close quarters.
  • (n.) Hence, a confused contest; a tumultuous struggle for superiority; a fight.
  • (n.) A child's pinafore or bib.
  • (n.) A garden hoe.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The protesters were confronted by a much larger group of pro-Kremlin activists, which led to scuffles.
  • (2) When the owners of Manchester City finally managed to persuade Pep Guardiola to oversee the next stage of their masterplan it is fair to say they probably did not expect to be approaching Christmas scuffling with a team of Watford’s limitations for their first league win at home in almost three months.
  • (3) The trials of those arrested over the scuffles on 6 May 2012 have become known as the Bolotnaya affair, after the square in which the clashes took place.
  • (4) Heather Titley said she saw Cameron grab the collar of Noye's shirt and scuffle with him at the Swanley interchange of the M25.
  • (5) One BNP supporter who was injured in a scuffle said: "I've put my best suit on today and come out for a peaceful demonstration and this is what's happened.
  • (6) Passengers scuffled with a man suspected of leaving the bag before the blast went off but failed to detain him.
  • (7) A minor scuffle erupts and four white shirts immediately converge on the referee and after a minor argument both players are booked.
  • (8) Minor scuffles were reported, but the ranks of riot police mostly looked on as largely peaceful and white-collar crowd - variously estimated at 10,000 to 70,000 - assembled without a permit in People's Square.
  • (9) Mostly, I thought about being at Barack Obama’s inauguration ; not at the ceremony itself, but the back of the crowd approximately three miles away, in frigid DC weather and surrounded by thousands of other scuffling, freezing, depressed-looking people, trying to squeeze a sense of occasion from what felt like being at the back of a demo.
  • (10) "Mubarak is the solution," chanted the crowd, some of whom also briefly scuffled with the supporters of people killed during the 2011 uprising.
  • (11) Scuffles break out and four protesters are arrested, bundled off to the station in the same tuk-tuks they arrived in.
  • (12) Surveillance video taken from a Ukrainian airport shows Klymenko and the country's chief prosecutor scuffling with guards who try to detain them and overturning a metal detector gate as they try to reach their plane.
  • (13) Chad's Hissène Habré removed from Senegal court as scuffle breaks out Read more Habré had refused legal representation, saying he did not recognise the court’s jurisdiction, and vowed not to cooperate with the trial.
  • (14) More pressure from LA, a scuffle behind the net and Dominic Williams cross-checks King and he will go to the box.
  • (15) Fifteen people were arrested a day after the results when scuffles broke out between police and protesters outside Downing Street.
  • (16) The voice of the survivors is being ignored, the concerns of the people and many clergy in Chile are being ignored, and the safety of children in this diocese is being left in the hands of a bishop about whom there are grave concerns for his commitment to child protection.” Barros was installed as bishop of the southern Chilean diocese of Osorno last weekend amid unprecedented opposition, and scuffles inside the cathedral by protesters who say he is unfit to lead.
  • (17) According to the weekly magazine Friday, the scuffle took place in the early hours of 16 January, when the wrestler should have been preparing for his bout later the same day.
  • (18) eKathimerini.com reports that "a few dozen pensioners" demanded a meeting with health minister Andreas Lykourentzos, and briefly scuffled with police.
  • (19) There were scuffles in Cambridge as crowds attempted to storm the university's Senate House.
  • (20) Over the past few years, the two teams have developed a bit of a dislike for each other stemming from a preseason game that was called early after a tackle by former KC midfielder Roger Espinoza led to a scuffle between the two teams.