silent treatment
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of silent treatment
First recorded in 1945–50
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.
“For a day or two, she’d give us the silent treatment, and then we’d all fall back into the form of a life trying to make ends meet,” he wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2026
He’s used to giving me the silent treatment whenever there is conflict and he’s improved, but there is still a huge divide between what we have and what I, and most people, think is healthy.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2025
"I was on probation, I didn't know this person. I thought he might make my life hard at work, that he might give me the silent treatment," she said.
From BBC ● Dec. 13, 2024
“I’m not really understanding what the silent treatment is,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher told The Associated Press last week.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 29, 2023
At least she’s not giving me the silent treatment anymore.
From "A Mango-Shaped Space" by Wendy Mass
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.
