shush
Americaninterjection
verb (used with object)
-
shushes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shushed,
past participle, past
-
shushing
present participle
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
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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:
Bass’ barrages got to Raman more than a few times, leading her to talk over the NBC and Telemundo moderators or even shush them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
At one point, it appeared he told someone in the room to "shush" their mouth.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2025
That’s where finding a quiet space to meditate or write in her journal helped shush McClernon’s self-doubt.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 8, 2024
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, was seen at times trying to shush his outspoken member, to little avail.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 9, 2023
He held up one finger to shush me, then went out.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
Mike gathers himself, shushes the woman for waking him and then collects his belongings to begin a day of panhandling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025
Go into hysterics if someone shushes them in a theater?
From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2023
The man could not hit a fairway, make a putt or do anything worthy of one of his patented crowd shushes.
From Golf Digest ● Sep. 29, 2018
After an off-screen monster lets out some characteristic creaks, Lee and Marcus look off into the distance terrified, and dad shushes his kids.
From Slate ● Apr. 9, 2018
If it's a song I like, I sing loud until my sister shushes me with a finger to her mouth.
From "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson
Saber-rattling trumpet and timpani intrude and are shushed away as worthless.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026
Why would she be abruptly shushed whenever she asked after its fate?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
When a few overzealous fans couldn’t contain their excitement, and yelled “C’mon, 'Foe!” just as the American was readying to lob the ball upward in a serve, hundreds of other fans collectively shushed them.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2024
He was annoyed by persistent whistling by the crowd and rushed to the side of the stage and shushed them after sealing victory.
From BBC ● May 2, 2024
His footsteps shushed on the dirt path as he walked away.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
“I always felt like I was in a library,” Emma says, with some guests shushing others or throwing a side-eye.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
“They’re doing more than just stamping books or shushing everybody,” Kearney said.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
The only sound was the steady shushing of shoes and snowboots across the marble floor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2025
Millions of people remember him as a 19-year-old shushing the crowd at London 2012 before he stormed to victory in the T44 100m.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2024
Alfhercht looked back and put a finger over his lips, shushing them.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
