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
“For a day or two, she’d give us the silent treatment, and then we’d all fall back into the form of a life trying to make ends meet,” he wrote.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 15, 2026
‘He thinks nothing of spending $40K on a new car’: My husband gives me the silent treatment.
From MarketWatch • Oct. 9, 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
How was it that she was giving me the silent treatment?
From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence
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.
