"hush up" means: Stop talking; be quiet. "Hush up" = "shut up" with a less aggressive tone.. This is a fairly neutral word with no inherent risk attached. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than something dangerous. If your child uses it, context will usually make the meaning clear. A brief, curious question about where they heard it is generally enough to know whether to follow up.
Definitions
Stop talking; be quiet. "Hush up" = "shut up" with a less aggressive tone.
"Hush up, the baby's sleeping."
"hush up" means: Stop talking; be quiet. "Hush up" = "shut up" with a less aggressive tone.. This is a fairly neutral word with no inherent risk attached. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than something dangerous. If your child uses it, context will usually make the meaning clear. A brief, curious question about where they heard it is generally enough to know whether to follow up.
"hush up" means: Stop talking; be quiet. "Hush up" = "shut up" with a less aggressive tone.. Register: neutral, standard English, usable in most everyday contexts. A common non-native mistake is to use the word in the wrong register, or to assume one fixed meaning when it is actually polysemous; always check the surrounding register and the audience before producing it yourself. In formal writing, prefer a neutral synonym or a short descriptive phrase, and use this word only when you have heard or read it being used naturally in a comparable context.
“Hello! That’s why sometimes you gotta tap into that self awareness and hush up lol”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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Show 2 more dictionary-style senses (imported)
To become quiet; to cease making sounds.
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To keep secret, to prevent from becoming known.
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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🗺️About Regional & Other slang
Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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Semantically related
- hush one's mouth72%
(AAVE) To be quiet.
- hush one's mouth72%
A classic AAVE expression meaning to be quiet, stop talking, or hold back a reaction — often used expressively when something is surprising or shocking. You might say it as a command to someone talking too much, or as a reflexive response when you hear something mind-blowing. It's warm, Southern-flavored, and way more colorful than just saying 'shut up.' Still very much alive in everyday speech, social media captions, and reaction videos.
- cork up66%
(usually imperative, slang, intransitive) Shut up; be quiet.