quietus
Americannoun
plural
quietuses-
a finishing stroke; anything that effectually ends or settles.
Having given a quietus to the argument, she left.
-
discharge or release from life.
-
a period of retirement or inactivity.
noun
-
anything that serves to quash, eliminate, or kill
to give the quietus to a rumour
-
a release from life; death
-
the discharge or settlement of debts, duties, etc
Etymology
Origin of quietus
1530–40; < Medieval Latin quiētus quit (in quiētus est (he) is quit, a formula of acquittance), Latin: (he) is quiet, at rest ( see quiet); cf. quit 1 (adj.)
Explanation
Use the noun quietus to mean death, especially when it's seen as a relief. Quietus is a poetic, old-fashioned word for death. It's a way of viewing death as an "eternal rest," or as a release from the turmoil of life, and also a delicate way to refer to the fact that someone has died. Shakespeare used the word quietus in his "to be or not to be" soliloquy in "Hamlet," although there is disagreement among scholars about whether Hamlet was talking about suicide or the settling of debts.
Vocabulary lists containing quietus
Scrabble: Words that Begin with Q
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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 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.
Kg5, and now, with both Black rooks hanging, a simple king move delivers the quietus.
From Washington Times • Nov. 14, 2023
Instead, it was a much quicker quietus after 19.
From Washington Times • Nov. 5, 2019
What’s most disheartening is how unspectacular a quietus it turns out to be.
From The New Yorker • Mar. 29, 2016
She has been the devoted, deceived, finally disillusioned wife of a fashionable portrait painter, and her divorce, she thought, put the quietus on any further flutterings of the heart.
From Time Magazine Archive
The result has been a valuable addition to scientific knowledge as to the vitality of germinal forms, and a quietus to theories as to "spontaneous generation."
From The Relations of Science and Religion The Morse Lecture, 1880 by Calderwood, Henry
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.
