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:
Murrill is now using that discredited plea deal against Brooks, just as she did in Duncan’s case, in an attempt to quash his compensation claim.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
Lawyers for the Times filed motions to quash all the subpoenas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
It is a savvy move and coalition-building exercise that likely will quash accusations Warsh is ripping apart the very fabric of the Fed.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
Baroness Louise Casey, who led the national investigation into grooming gangs, called on the government last year to quash any convictions of victims who were criminalised when they should have been protected.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
I have quite enough to do at the moment without trying to quash these ridiculous rumors.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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
“It gives me peace of mind, and it kind of quashes any buzz that may be going around.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 12, 2020
Which expression, translated into English means, he quashes it.
From The Book of Khalid by Ameen Fares Rihani
Milwaukee’s Logan Henderson quashed the Dodgers’ offense, giving up just three hits and one run over seven innings, to give the Brewers a 6-2 win in front of an announced crowd of 45,828.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
The newspaper had challenged the government requests for phone records of reporters and grand jury testimony as an attempt to "intimidate" the press and filed a motion to have them quashed.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
The High Court has now quashed the senior coroner for Gloucestershire's conclusion after a legal challenge from Jools' mother, Ellen Roome.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz quashed the “unlawful” subpoenas, ruling that “overwhelming evidence” suggested they “were not issued to investigate, but to harass, coerce, and retaliate.”
From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2026
She was feeling optimistic about the possibility of the war being quashed by a global voice, and wouldn’t that be something!
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
A federal judge denied the Department of Justice’s motion to vacate an order quashing subpoenas, citing harassment of former Fed chair Jerome Powell.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
For decades, corporate executives have been quashing workers’ efforts to gain a fair reward for their labor.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 6, 2026
Still, quashing a grand-jury subpoena is one of the rarest of judicial actions.
From Slate ● Mar. 19, 2026
They also said the ruling quashing the ban was paused "pending determination of the defendant's appeal to the Court of Appeal, or further order".
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026
The rejection of the appeal by the Privy Council no more proves the guilt of the condemned than their innocence would have been proved by quashing the proceedings before the Martial Law Tribunal.
From Freedom's Battle Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation by Mahatma Gandhi
Definitions 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.
