squelch

American  

[skwelch] / skwɛltʃ /

verb (used with object)

• squelches,
  present (3rd person singular)
• squelched,
  past participle,  past
• squelching
  present participle

1. to strike or press with crushing force; crush down; squash.

2. to put down, suppress, or silence, as with a crushing retort or argument.

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verb (used without object)

• squelches,
  present (3rd person singular)
• squelched,
  past participle,  past
• squelching
  present participle

1. to make a splashing sound.

2. to tread heavily in water, mud, wet shoes, etc., with such a sound.

noun

1. a squelched or crushed mass of anything.

2. a splashing sound.

3. an act of squelching or suppressing, as by a crushing retort or argument.

4. Also called noise suppressor.  Also called squelch circuit,.  Electronics. a circuit in a receiver, as a radio receiver, that automatically reduces or eliminates noise when the receiver is tuned to a frequency at which virtually no carrier wave occurs.

squelch British  

/ skwɛltʃ /

verb

1. (intr) to walk laboriously through soft wet material or with wet shoes, making a sucking noise

2. (intr) to make such a noise

3. (tr) to crush completely; squash

4. informal (tr) to silence, as by a crushing retort

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noun

1. a squelching sound

2. something that has been squelched

3. electronics a circuit that cuts off the audio-frequency amplifier of a radio receiver in the absence of an input signal, in order to suppress background noise

4. informal a crushing remark

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• squelcher
  noun
• squelchingness
  noun
• squelching
  adjective
• squelchy
  adjective
• unsquelched
  adjective
• squelchingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• squelching
  present
• squelched
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• squelch
  simple
• squelches
  simple
• have squelched
  perfect
• has squelched
  perfect
• am squelching
  progressive
• are squelching
  progressive
• is squelching
  progressive
• have been squelching
  perfect progressive
• has been squelching
  perfect progressive

Past

• squelched
  simple
• had squelched
  perfect
• was squelching
  progressive
• were squelching
  progressive
• had been squelching
  perfect progressive

Future

• will squelch
  simple
• will have squelched
  perfect
• will be squelching
  progressive
• will have been squelching
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of squelch

1610–20; variant of quelch in same sense (perhaps blend of quell and quash ); initial s perhaps from squash ¹

Explanation

When you squelch something, you're putting an end to it. You can squelch an idea or a rebellion. This word has several meanings, but it's usually a verb for crushing things. A mean remark could squelch your self-confidence, and a powerful military could squelch an invading country. Squelching can also mean to make a squelch-like sucking sound — or to slop, slosh, splash, and squish through the mud. There's also a type of electric circuit that cuts off when the signal is weak: that's a squelch circuit, which squelches the connection.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

squelch squelches squelched squelching

When the economy is overheating, bond yields will rise, which will slow the economy and squelch the threat of higher inflation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

Still, she said, the case revealed "a series of statements by Zuckerberg at the time of those acquisitions that looked like a desire to squelch a nascent threat to Facebook's dominance".

From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2025

In fact, both Black activists and congressional champions of Reconstruction understood that race still mattered, and that made it critical to give Congress broad powers to squelch efforts to suppress or cancel out Black votes.

From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2025

The policy “represents one of the most caustic, corrosive and chilling efforts to squelch the voice of this commission, the office of inspector general and the Sybil Brand Commission,” Johnson said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2025

Washington viewed the uprising as a direct threat to the authority of the federal government and called out the militia, a massive thirteen-thousand-man army, to squelch the uprising.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

What crushes confidence is uncertainty that squelches investment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

As she explained in a recent phone call, she was gobsmacked by the result, a dance track that mixes laser squelches, piano chords, a skittering beat and Croft’s wistful vocals.

From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2022

Antiretroviral treatment squelches HIV reproduction but sensitive tests show that even with the most effective treatments, small populations of white blood cells studded with the CD4 receptor harbor HIV’s DNA in a latent state.

From Science Magazine ● Aug. 3, 2022

That not only imperils his $2.183 million salary for 2021, but it also squelches trade talks for the fourth-year pro from Penn State.

From Seattle Times ● May 14, 2021

It squelches independent inquiry, and makes such a thing impossible, profane, criminal, it authoritatively settles every dispute that can arise.

From Christian Science by Mark Twain

In the past week, the council squelched progress on a deal to gradually open Hormuz.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

So far, the higher rates have softened but not squelched buyer demand in the spring home-buying season, he noted.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026

Had there been better information, a more bounded threat, the arms race of the missile age might have been squelched before it took off.

From Slate ● Feb. 3, 2026

This year has seen unrelenting bad news for L.A. nightlife — the impacts of the wildfires, the continued Hollywood strike fallout, the cost-of-living crisis and ICE raids and protests that temporarily squelched downtown’s after-dark industry.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2025

The soggy wooden planks of the deck squelched and sagged under my feet.

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

A federal appeals court largely sided with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office on many of the allegations, squelching much of the lawsuit over the deputies’ use of force.

From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2024

“I’m driving a 300-mile loop today,” she says, squelching tears.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2024

A woman was told that her flooded flat was "habitable" - despite having "squelching" wet carpets and broken fire alarms.

From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2023

In addition, the destruction of evidence and the squelching of internal reports only expanded that seemingly bottomless abyss that still, in part, confronts us.

From Salon ● May 25, 2023

I was soaked through and squelching with every step.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Related Words

• crush
• extinguish
• muffle
• oppress
• repress
• smother
• squash
• stifle
• thwart