shush
Americaninterjection
verb (used with object)
interjection
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
shushsimple
-
shushessimple
-
have shushedperfect
-
has shushedperfect
-
am shushingprogressive
-
are shushingprogressive
-
is shushingprogressive
-
have been shushingperfect progressive
-
has been shushingperfect progressive
Past
-
shushedsimple
-
had shushedperfect
-
was shushingprogressive
-
were shushingprogressive
-
had been shushingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shush
First recorded in 1920–25; imitative
Explanation
To shush is to urge someone else to be quiet. If you burst out laughing in the library, the librarian will almost certainly come over and shush you. A babysitter will shush a rowdy kid whose younger sibling is taking a nap, a teacher will shush a chattering class when they're supposed to be focused on their work, and a train conductor might shush you if you're talking on your mobile phone in the quiet car. This imitative word sounds just like the sound you make when you implore another person to quiet down. You can even use it as a command: "Shush! I can't hear the TV!"
Vocabulary lists containing shush
myPerspectives 6.1
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Compound Fracture
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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.
At breakfast, Mohammad explained to the mukhtar the idea of the Zagros Mountain Trail and invited him to become a stakeholder, lodging and feeding hikers who came through Shush.
From New York Times • Apr. 20, 2022
Shush every cousin who talks too much during this explanation.
From Slate • Nov. 28, 2018
When the crowd booed that only silver lining in Reed’s morning of dark clouds, he responded by playing the pantomime villain, with a finger in front of his lips: Shush!
From Washington Times • Sep. 29, 2018
"Shush," says Howard, raising a conspiratorial finger to his lips.
From The Guardian • Feb. 17, 2013
Shush orders were an arcane type of magic, something their ancestors had used to keep dissenters quiet back when only the wealthiest had any rights.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
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.
