Word.ws English Dictionary

have a quiet word

have a quiet word verb: to speak to someone in private.

Verb

have a quiet word (third-person singular simple present has a quiet word, present participle having a quiet word, simple past and past participle had a quiet word)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To speak to someone in private.
    • When you get a moment I'd like to have a quiet word.
    Synonyms:
    have a word in someone's ear, have a word in your shell-like

Synonyms of have a quiet word

Forms of have a quiet word

third-person singular presenthas a quiet word
present participlehaving a quiet word
past participlehad a quiet word
pasthad a quiet word

Questions about have a quiet word

What does have a quiet word mean?
Have a quiet word means to speak to someone in private.
What part of speech is have a quiet word?
Have a quiet word is a verb.
What is the past tense of have a quiet word?
The past tense of have a quiet word is had a quiet word.

Words near have a quiet word in the dictionary

  1. have a normal one
  2. have a pair
  3. have a point
  4. have a poor time of it
  5. have a pop at
  6. have a quiet word
  7. have a rough time of it
  8. have a run for it
  9. have a safe trip home
  10. have a say
  11. have a screw loose

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have a quiet word (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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