Word.ws English Dictionary

keep one's mouth shut

keep one's mouth shut verb: to keep a secret; to refrain from speaking indiscreetly or carelessly; broadly, to refrain from speaking altogether.

Verb

keep one's mouth shut (third-person singular simple present keeps one's mouth shut, present participle keeping one's mouth shut, simple past and past participle kept one's mouth shut)

  1. (idiomatic) To keep a secret; to refrain from speaking indiscreetly or carelessly; broadly, to refrain from speaking altogether.
    • Near-synonym: keep it in the family
    • He thought that he could get him a regular salary if he would come to Packingtown and do as he was told, and keep his mouth shut.1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, chapter XXV, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906, →OCLC

Synonyms of keep one's mouth shut

All synonyms of keep one's mouth shut

Forms of keep one's mouth shut

third-person singular presentkeeps one's mouth shut
present participlekeeping one's mouth shut
past participlekept one's mouth shut
pastkept one's mouth shut

Questions about keep one's mouth shut

What does keep one's mouth shut mean?
Keep one's mouth shut means to keep a secret; to refrain from speaking indiscreetly or carelessly; broadly, to refrain from speaking altogether.
What part of speech is keep one's mouth shut?
Keep one's mouth shut is a verb.
What is the past tense of keep one's mouth shut?
The past tense of keep one's mouth shut is kept one's mouth shut.

Words near keep one's mouth shut in the dictionary

  1. keep one's head on one's shoulders
  2. keep one's head up
  3. keep one's head upon one's shoulders
  4. keep one's knickers on
  5. keep one's lips sealed
  6. keep one's mouth shut
  7. keep one's nerve
  8. keep one's nose clean
  9. keep one's options open
  10. keep one's own counsel
  11. keep one's pants on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keep one's mouth shut (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-keep one's mouth shut.ogg.

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