quash
Americanverb (used with object)
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quashes,
present (3rd person singular)
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quashed,
past participle, past
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quashing
present participle
verb
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to subdue forcefully and completely; put down; suppress
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to annul or make void (a law, decision, etc)
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to reject (an indictment, writ, etc) as invalid
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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quashsimple
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quashessimple
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have quashedperfect
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has quashedperfect
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am quashingprogressive
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are quashingprogressive
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is quashingprogressive
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have been quashingperfect progressive
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has been quashingperfect progressive
Past
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quashedsimple
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had quashedperfect
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was quashingprogressive
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were quashingprogressive
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had been quashingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of quash
1300–50; Middle English quashen to smash, break, overcome, suppress < Old French quasser, in part < Latin quassāre to shake (frequentative of quatere to shake; cf. concussion); in part < Late Latin cassāre to annul, derivative of Latin cassus empty, void
Explanation
Quash means to put down, stop, extinguish, and it’s usually used to talk about ideas, feelings, or political movements. You wouldn’t quash a grape underfoot; you would squash it. But if you were a military dictator, you would quash a revolution. Quash is an extreme word. It comes from the French word for smash, or shatter. If something is quashed it is completely suppressed, usually by something or someone very powerful or authoritative. If you wrote a poem and asked your favorite teacher to read it, and that teacher tore it to pieces, then your hopes were most likely quashed.
Vocabulary lists containing quash
40 SAT words Beginning with "Q"
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Scrabble: Words that Begin with Q
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The threat is a part of Cornwall Council's new push to quash the crime after it recorded 17,500 fly-tipping incidents in the past five years.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Trend-following funds thrived in 2022, when both stocks and bonds struggled as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to quash rapid inflation.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
Doomsday warnings about artificial intelligence are replete with claims that AI-enabled cheating is pervasive, that students will soon abandon college en masse, and that for those who remain, rampant credentialism will quash the liberal-arts spirit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Alvarez’s intervention work primarily focused on using his gang contacts to help quash disputes and acting as a middleman between people scared to report crimes to police and law enforcement officials, according to Garcia-Leys.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
I paused and looked toward my bedroom, hoping Fig would come sprinting down the hall, meowing for his food, and quash my churning worries.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
LinkedIn says it quashes more than 200,000 AI-generated spam comments every day before they go live.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
This quashes the convictions of sub-postmasters convicted in the Horizon scandal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
From BBC ● May 25, 2024
Many officers have described to me problems that include “kill the messenger” management that quashes bad news, as well as dangerous supervision lapses, watered-down policing standards and policing-knowledge gaps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2024
Critics maintain that it reinforces privilege and quashes diversity.
From New York Times ● Jul. 27, 2023
Which expression, translated into English means, he quashes it.
From The Book of Khalid by Ameen Fares Rihani
Separately, the same court quashed the conviction of Christian Bittar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
"Having this conviction quashed is not simply about correcting the record, it's about finally having validation that this is an injustice that never should have happened," the 45-year-old said.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
"The appeal succeeds… and the conviction for murder will accordingly be quashed."
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
The issue was revived in August when the High Court quashed the commission's latest restriction because of procedural failings, without ruling that the Order had a right to march along Garvaghy Road.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
In August, the court quashed one of the two charges under the Suppression of Communism Act.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
"Taeb's appointment also reflects the Iranian establishment's fear of renewed unrest as the economic situation deteriorates, with the Basij likely to play a leading role in quashing future protests," said Brodsky.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Most important, she outmaneuvered the Texas judge by quashing the subpoena itself, finding that it was an illegitimate and unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
From Slate ● May 19, 2026
The real-estate lobby had been successful in quashing previous efforts to tax second homes, including in 2014 and 2019.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
For decades, corporate executives have been quashing workers’ efforts to gain a fair reward for their labor.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 6, 2026
His trying the repetition was like Lord Byron's quashing a similar illusion, but of a suit of clothes hung up to look like a friend whom he believed he saw in the spirit.
From The Lincoln Story Book A Judicious Collection of the Best Stories and Anecdotes of the Great President, Many Appearing Here for the First Time in Book Form by Henry Llewellyn Williams
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
