conspicuous in their silence?

[joby1]

what does that mean??

[Eve]

I suppose more noticeable by their silence.

Depends on the context I suppose.

[whiffey]

It means that "they" are "conspicuous" by being silent.

You need to be less cryptic.

[andybaird68]

less cryptic might be telling us who 'they' are-is it the same as 'them' ? Is this one of those telepathic questions?

[joby1]

just wanted a definition whiffey one :-))

[whiffey]

Oh sorry, I just wondered if you were trying to start a fight, silly me.

[joby1]

whiff, you should know me better than that by now ;-)

[joby1]

Oh and the phrase is, (just phoned me mum), 'conspicuous by their absence'.

sorry xx

[jno]

it means you'd expect them to be there so the fact that they weren't is unusually noticeable. (It's 'absence', your mum is right.)

[joby1]

thanks jno :-))

[kaylamay]

I remember my children would get conspicuous in their silence far too often. It's how i knew they were up to something.
If someone is really quite you eventually notice it. Their silence becomes conspicuous.

[-Z-]

I thought it was "conspicious by their absense"