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.
Polite formalities did not return at the toss, Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Ali Agha giving each other the silent treatment.
From BBC • 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
About times he’d argued with his wife and given her the silent treatment.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 20, 2025
On their long car ride back from Washington, she gave him the silent treatment, talking to him only through their eldest son.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 19, 2023
He reached over and tried to adjust another setting, but his silent treatment didn’t work very well.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
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.
