1. to remove or eliminate the vocal quality from; to make voiceless or silent
Usage: linguistics: to change a voiced sound to a voiceless sound; formal/technical

Examples

• In some dialects, speakers devoicalize final consonants at the end of words.
• The phonological rule devocalizes voiced fricatives in certain positions.
• When she whispered, she devocalizes her speech to avoid being heard.
• Certain languages devoicalize stops in specific phonetic environments.
• The process devocalizes the normally voiced sound into its unvoiced counterpart.