hush
Americaninterjection
verb (used without object)
-
hushes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hushed,
past participle, past
-
hushing
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
hushes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hushed,
past participle, past
-
hushing
present participle
-
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
-
hushes
plural
-
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
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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:
How do you feel when they hush over a line like that?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Buffet lines pair high-cost shrimp with more affordable hush puppies and french fries, or meatloaf with potatoes, gravy and green beans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
As Djokovic toiled, an eerie hush fell around Arthur Ashe Stadium which indicated the crowd's growing concern for the four-time champion.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
The big band music stopped, and for a few seconds a hush fell over the guests.
From Barron's ● Apr. 26, 2026
Mr. Pinkerton waved at the two of them to hush, and then he fixed his fierce eyes on me.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
A few nervous hushes floated across the place.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
After the opening run of songs, she hushes the audience and spends two minutes looping her voice.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
“The Blackening” comes with a horror movie’s requisite skittish and stalking camerawork, its creaks and breath-holding hushes, its gore and payback.
From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2023
KAWAGOE, Japan — Now these hushed Olympics had found their way to the most melancholy of the hushes.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 29, 2021
She hushes him, pulls him onto her lap.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Nasa is flying the X-59 in conjunction with community surveys to assess what people think when a supersonic boom is bent by the planes stretched nose and hushed up.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
In 1997, the nation's hearts went out to the two young boys, then aged 15 and 12, as they accompanied Diana's coffin through hushed London streets at her funeral.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
And nine out of ten times, she added in a hushed voice, “well, you know.”
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 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
Inside the barn, the lights were low, the sounds were hushed, the night slowly wore on.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
“What I hope is we don’t go to what I would call diversity hushing, where people don’t want to talk about what they’re doing,” Tharp said.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 16, 2024
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
From her pillow and blanket in the back seat of the family car, Lana witnessed her mother hushing Natalie into secrecy.
From New York Times ● Aug. 3, 2019
I kept hushing them, and they finally sobered up when I reminded them we were not libre yet.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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