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hush

verb · noun

Simple meaning

Become quiet or still.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

huhsh
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈhʌʃ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. Become quiet or still; fall silent

  2. Cause to be quiet or not talk

  3. transitive

    To appease; to allay; to soothe.

  4. transitive

    To make quiet.

  5. transitive

    To clear off soil and other materials overlying the bedrock.

noun

  1. A silence, especially after some noise

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Become quiet or still; fall silent

Used this way, hush is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • hush up , rarer, so it draws attention
  • quieten , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use hush

  • “The librarian asked everyone to hush so others could read quietly.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

hush moneygreat hushhush nowhush fallsdeathly hush

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • quiet down

    To become quieter.

  • quiet

    To cause (someone or something) to become quiet.

  • hush up

    To become quiet; to cease making sounds.

  • still

    To calm down, to quiet.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • hush moneynounCompound term

    A bribe paid to someone to insure that something is kept secret.

  • hush puppynounCompound term

    Deep-fried cornbread ball (southern).

  • hush upverbCompound term

    Cover up a misdemeanor, fault, or error.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: become quiet or still

quiethush upRarequietenRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.