shush
Americaninterjection
verb (used with object)
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
myPerspectives 6.1
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Compound Fracture
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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:
His friends groaned and tried to shush him; he waved them off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2026
At one point, it appeared he told someone in the room to "shush" their mouth.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2025
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
McCarthy, sitting directly behind Biden and in view of the cameras, several times appeared to shush his colleagues.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 8, 2023
It did not come, and after playing long enough for even Mrs. Cobb to shush him out, he waited on the back porch.
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
A staffer shushes the Times journalists talking in the hallway.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2026
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
Vanessa, a New York-raised teacher in her early 40s with family back in Haiti, waits through a few protracted rounds of talk before the room shushes again.
From The Guardian ● May 18, 2018
My voice starts to rise, and Camille shushes me again.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
Villa analyst Victor Manas urged Tindall to "show some respect" and "lose the finger" after the Newcastle number two repeatedly shushed a visibly irate Unai Emery at St James' Park.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
Why would she be abruptly shushed whenever she asked after its fate?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
"When Gus showed huge displays of emotion and overwhelm of pride for his father, he wasn't shushed or told to be smaller," she said.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2024
Arriaga shushed them as she rifled through a stack of crumpled birth certificates and other identity documents in search of information the app required.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2024
“Quiet,” shushed Fadi as Habib sat down with the paper.
From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai
“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
When Miss Jackson sticks her head out the window, shushing them dogs, I keep real still.
From "The Skin I'm In" by Sharon G. Flake
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.
