Word.ws English Dictionary

having a quiet word

having a quiet word is the present participle of have a quiet word.

Meaning of have a quiet word

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

Questions about having a quiet word

What is having a quiet word the present participle of?
Having a quiet word is the present participle of have a quiet word.

Words near having a quiet word in the dictionary

  1. having a mountain to climb
  2. having a normal one
  3. having a pair
  4. having a point
  5. having a poor time of it
  6. having a quiet word
  7. having a rough time of it
  8. having a run for it
  9. having a say
  10. having a screw loose
  11. having a seat

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: having a quiet word (page history and authors); 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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Cite this entry: “having a quiet word.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/having_a_quiet_word. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.