Der Quibblemeister finds this headline ill written:

Fragile Cease-Fire Holds in Fallujah
AP - 7 minutes ago
Gunfire was largely silenced Monday in the second day of a truce in Fallujah,

Some non-military firearms are equipped with "silencers".
The headline might better have said "There was only occasional gunfire."

I would just say "silent". it doesn't seem to need to be past tense, does it? or leave off the "largely"...

But can gunfire really be silent? Surely it is the guns that were silent/silenced?

My point exactly, dear Hibernicus.

Gunfire was largely silenced Monday in the second day of a truce in Fallujah,

I would have handed the copy back to the reporter with one word : "Recast."
If they couldn't figure out why it was wrong - Well!

It was a hed, wow.

But..but...but..it is not the headline is it?
I don't know, Bill. We do say, 'the sound of gunfire', don't we? And so, 'silencing gunfire', doesn't sound all that bad.

…it is not the headline is it?

Der Quibblemeister finds this headline ill written:

The headline seems okay to me. Gunfire, the firing of guns (rather than the sound of the guns), has been deliberately stopped. A similar use of "silenced" might be applied to dissent or dissentors. The Czar's critics were silenced. To say that the guns were silent is to suggest a passive or happenstance result. The fact that there exists a device known as a silencer for firearms does muddy the waters slightly, but not so much that a reader would interpret the headline incorrectly.

May I suggest re-reading what Hibernicus said?

Isn't there a rhetorical device that does just this sort of thing?

If I were to change the headline it would be the expression "largely silenced." If the gunfire has stopped altogether then some mention of silence is appropriate. If there is sporadic gunfire then I would describe it as such.

Gunfire means the the firing of guns. When guns are fired,
they make noise, which is also called gunfire.
Gunfire cannot be made quiet, cannot be silenced.

It's metonymy Dr Bill. Or either synecdoche, one.

But not good writing. I could say shit was shinola and
call it a metaphor.

From his tone I'd say wwh is getting pretty chuffed over this issue...

Gunfire was largely silenced Monday in the second day of a truce To me, the strangeness comes from the fact that this should apply to a truce.
Gunfire was largely silenced suggests to me that one party responsible was wiped out by the other.

Dear Alex: I had to say it so Faldage would understand it.
I hew to the line, let the chips fall where they may.
Carthago delenda est. And rember, we havn't found any \
dictionary confirmation of "chuffed" meaning unhappy.
Have you got any?

Ah I was just pulling your leg with the "chuffed" comment.

Getting back to the sounds of silence... Merriam-Webster gives one definition of silence as a transitive verb meaning "to cause to cease hostile firing or criticism," which is how it is being used in the sentence in question. And "gunfire" is being used as a type of synecdoche or metonymy as Faldage pointed out. What I find objectionable (mildly) is that "largely silenced" is a bit like "mostly a virgin" or "a little bit pregnant."

I just re-read Dr Bill's original post. This doesn't make the wording any more elegant, but it's the "lede", not the "hed" (hi, Wow! ) he's quoting.

In fact, I just googled this and although the headline still stood for a while, looks like the leads got changed, all in different ways, depending on timing and on which newspaper was editing the story.

Dear Alex: My mind's made up. Don't try to confuse me
with facts. Der Quibblemeister

My mind's made up. Don't try to confuse me with facts.

That's what my mother says!

6 Remember him-before the silver cord is severed,
or the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
or the wheel broken at the well,
7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

"And rember, we havn't found any \
dictionary confirmation of "chuffed" meaning unhappy.
Have you got any?"

"Chaffed", mebbe?

"There was only occasional gunfire."

Beg to differ, wwh.

Your variation does not describe the relative quiet in Fallujah as accurately as "gunfire was largely silenced".

What is being described is not a random lull in the fighting, but a silence imposed by the threat of imminent reprisals or by actual reprisals.

Sad to say, but no-one thinks this quiet will be "silenced" for long.

"largely silenced" is a bit like "mostly a virgin" or "a little bit pregnant."


Not the same thing, though Alex. "Silence" is at one end of a scale, with "(a word meaning total noise)" at the other. You can, therefore, say "almost silent" to indicate how far along that scale you are.
Pregnancy is an absolute; a binary condition; on or off - either you is or you ain't.
The only scale is that which has fallen of the eye of the ex-maiden concerned.