hush
Americaninterjection
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
-
to make silent; silence.
-
to suppress mention of; keep concealed (often followed byup ).
They hushed up the scandal.
-
to calm, quiet, or allay.
to hush someone's fears.
noun
-
silence or quiet, especially after noise.
- Synonyms:
- tranquility, stillness, peace
-
Phonetics. either of the sibilant sounds (sh) and (zh).
adjective
verb
-
to make or become silent; quieten
-
to soothe or be soothed
noun
-
stillness; silence
-
an act of hushing
interjection
verb
-
to run water over the ground to erode (surface soil), revealing the underlying strata and any valuable minerals present
-
to wash (an ore) by removing particles of earth with rushing water
noun
Synonym Usage
See still 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hushsimple
-
hushessimple
-
have hushedperfect
-
has hushedperfect
-
am hushingprogressive
-
are hushingprogressive
-
is hushingprogressive
-
have been hushingperfect progressive
-
has been hushingperfect progressive
Past
-
hushedsimple
-
had hushedperfect
-
was hushingprogressive
-
were hushingprogressive
-
had been hushingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hush
1350–1400; apparently back formation from husht whist 2 ( Middle English huissht ), the -t being taken for past participle suffix
Explanation
To hush is to become quiet. When an audience is eager to hear a speaker, it will hush as soon as she begins to talk. Train passengers will usually hush their conversations when the conductor reminds them that they're in the quiet car, and one of a kindergarten teacher's skills is getting his class to hush. In fact, to quiet another person or group of people is also to hush: "The principal impatiently hushes the students as soon as they start giggling." A peaceful silence is another kind of hush. In Middle English, it was the imitative huisht.
Vocabulary lists containing hush
Selection Vocabulary 3, Unit 3
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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:
"It was a hush email," and "an effort to damage control," says one worker - while another says it made her "furious".
From BBC ● May 27, 2026
One moment the music envelops us in a mysterious hush and then it is downright jaunty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
These scenes were the only time a hush fell over the entire auditorium, as if every member of the audience was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026
Hellerstein has also tangled with Donald Trump, rejecting a request by the US president to have his New York hush money case moved to federal court.
From Barron's ● Mar. 24, 2026
Only sound is crickets and peepers and the hush of warm summer wind.
From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick
“Very sad. Absolutely,” says Winkler, in a quiet voice that hushes his “Barry” cast mates.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2023
They’re practicing “the mirror,” an improv exercise in a theater classroom, and the room suddenly hushes.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 10, 2023
She attempts to speak but he hushes her.
From New York Times ● Nov. 8, 2018
The first cadenza produced one of those you-could-hear-a-pin-drop hushes in the sold-out hall.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 29, 2016
In the hut, the children scream and cry as the mother hushes them.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
In Ankara, Turkish riders on horseback flanked Trump's limousine as it drove through the hushed streets to the presidential palace where an honour guard in red and blue uniforms greeted him.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
Spoken in a colloquial mix of English and Armenian, the recording became the introduction to “Canopies,” a song with the hushed, rocking cadence of a lullaby that Korkejian wrote from her grandmother’s perspective.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
The walls carry bottles, cans, jars, and echo hushed conversation.
From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2026
You could only hear her offer a hushed “no” because the room had never been more silent.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
There’s something so deeply satisfying about the hushed sharing of information.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
The crowd could barely contain their elation, hushing briefly when Mitchell’s anchor vocals were unaccompanied, only to erupt again the second the rest of the choir rejoined her.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 11, 2023
Blanchett emphasizes Lydia’s acute sensitivity to sound, whether she’s hushing someone’s nervous physical tic or picking up on eerie disturbances in her apartment late at night.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2022
I didn’t have a chance to test their flight chops, but they did a commendable job hushing city noise while I was working outside a coffee shop.
From The Verge ● Jun. 29, 2022
They have also taken to hushing nearby adults, so they can better hear their shows.
From Slate ● Apr. 9, 2021
Mr. Castle got up to his feet and the hushers began hushing the yackers.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
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.
