squelch
Americanverb (used with object)
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squelches,
present (3rd person singular)
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squelched,
past participle, past
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squelching
present participle
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to strike or press with crushing force; crush down; squash.
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to put down, suppress, or silence, as with a crushing retort or argument.
verb (used without object)
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squelches,
present (3rd person singular)
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squelched,
past participle, past
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squelching
present participle
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to make a splashing sound.
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to tread heavily in water, mud, wet shoes, etc., with such a sound.
noun
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a squelched or crushed mass of anything.
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a splashing sound.
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an act of squelching or suppressing, as by a crushing retort or argument.
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Also called noise suppressor, 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.
verb
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(intr) to walk laboriously through soft wet material or with wet shoes, making a sucking noise
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(intr) to make such a noise
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(tr) to crush completely; squash
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informal (tr) to silence, as by a crushing retort
noun
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a squelching sound
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something that has been squelched
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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
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informal a crushing remark
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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squelchernoun
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squelchingnessnoun
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squelchingadjective
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squelchyadjective
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unsquelchedadjective
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squelchinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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squelchsimple
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squelchessimple
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have squelchedperfect
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has squelchedperfect
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am squelchingprogressive
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are squelchingprogressive
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is squelchingprogressive
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have been squelchingperfect progressive
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has been squelchingperfect progressive
Past
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squelchedsimple
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had squelchedperfect
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was squelchingprogressive
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were squelchingprogressive
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had been squelchingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing squelch
"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 14–18
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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"The Witches" by Roald Dahl, Chapters 1–5
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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:
The disconnect shows how Tehran has managed to squelch traffic through the crucial energy chokepoint with relatively little military force, only a handful of drone and missile attacks on ships.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
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 case is a headache that CEO Shari Redstone does not need as she pursues a high-stakes sale of the company, a deal the FCC itself could squelch.
From Salon ● Mar. 4, 2025
Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google acted illegally to squelch competition in its online search business.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2024
Although Katie had this same flair for coloring an incident and Johnny himself lived in a half-dream world, yet they tried to squelch these things in their child.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
What crushes confidence is uncertainty that squelches investment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
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
Now, the looming Amazon-Whole Foods tie-up squelches confidence in those hopes.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 14, 2017
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the company and published the request Tuesday, says the case shows authorities demand more customer information than is authorized by law and unconstitutionally squelches public objections.
From US News ● Oct. 4, 2016
Constantine of Greece has a German wife, Mrs. Dr. dear, and that fact squelches hope.
From Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery
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
Everything about this strange arrangement has worked, every fear has been squelched, all awkwardness has disappeared, and the Lakers have been left with a happily productive father and a gratefully improving son.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 6, 2025
It squelched while we walked, though sometimes it was hard to tell.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
The spikier “Tongue” is the other rocker, whose arrangement is a blend of syncopated drum breaks, squelching keyboards and drones built on feedback and distortion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
To her, the shift in messaging, and the squelching of this routine announcement, is alarming.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2025
His bike sliding and squelching through the mud, he reaches the bottom and jumps off, shouldering the frame.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2024
“Keenan Allen isn’t going anywhere,” Telesco said, squelching speculation that cutting the veteran wide receiver is an option being considered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2023
Before I could say anything in reply, she was across the yard, she and the cow squelching their way through the gumbo toward the sheep camp.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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