quiet
Syllables: qui·et/ˈkwaɪ̯.ət/
quiet adjective: with little or no sound; free of disturbing noise.
Adjective
quiet (comparative quieter or more quiet, superlative quietest or most quiet)
- With little or no sound; free of disturbing noise.
- I can't hear the music; it is too quiet.
- On the light streets, better streetcleaners, more trees, more police, and quieter buses were the most popular improvements, followed by cutting down the number of cars and improving children's play space.1982, Donald Appleyard, Livable Streets, page 98
- Antonyms:
- loud, blaring, blasting, booming, cacophonous, clangorous, clamorous, clattering, deafening, dinsome
- Having little motion or activity; calm.
- the sea was quiet
- a quiet night at home
- Synonyms:
- placid, serene, calm, steady, collected, composed, cool-headed, equable, equanimous, equanimitable
- Not busy, of low quantity.
- The traffic was quiet for a Monday morning.
- Business was quiet for the season.
- Not talking much or not talking loudly; reserved.
- He's a very quiet man usually, but is very chatty after a few beers.
- Synonyms:
- reticent, taciturn, unloquacious, untalkative, reserved, silent, silentious
- Antonyms:
- garrulous, prolix, chattering, chattery, chatty, effusive, gabby, gobby, logorrheic, long-winded
- Not showy; undemonstrative.
- a quiet dress
- quiet colours
- Requiring little or no interaction.
- a quiet install
- Synonyms:
- silent, unattended
Verb
quiet (third-person singular simple present quiets, present participle quieting, simple past and past participle quieted)
- To cause (someone or something) to become quiet.
- Can you quiet your child? He’s making lots of noise.
- The umpire quieted the crowd so the game could continue in peace.
- Synonyms:
- quiet down, quieten
- To become quiet or calm.
- When you quiet, we can start talking.
- Synonyms:
- quiet down, quieten
Noun
quiet (countable and uncountable, plural quiets)
- The absence of sound; quietness.
- There was a strange quiet in the normally very lively plaza.
- We need a bit of quiet before we can start the show.
- The absence of movement; stillness, tranquility.
- The absence of disturbance or trouble; peace, security.
- The King & his Nobles thinke they may ſleepe in quiet,
Now they haue giuen vs a little holy water at the Court,
But thers no ſuch matter, we be no ſuch fooles,
To be bobd out with words and after come to hanging: […]1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act III
- The King & his Nobles thinke they may ſleepe in quiet,
Interjection
- Be quiet.
- Quiet! The children are sleeping.
quiet meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
quiet in Hindi
- with little sound
- शांत śānt, ख़ामोश xāmoś
- not busy
- अव्यस्त avyast
- not talking
- शांत śānt, मौन maun
- to cause (someone or something) to become quiet
- शांत करना śānt karnā, चुप कराना cup karānā
quiet in Tamil
- with little sound
- அமைதி amaiti
- having little motion
- அசைவற்ற acaivaṟṟa
- not talking
- மௌனம் mauṉam
quiet in Marathi
- with little sound
- शांत śānta
quiet in Urdu
- with little sound
- خاموش xāmoś
- absence of sound
- خاموشی xāmośī
More languagesFewer languages
- quiet in Bengali
- শান্ত śanto, খামোশ khamōś
- quiet in Telugu
- నిశ్శబ్దం niśśabdaṁ, ప్రశాంతం praśāntaṁ, మౌనం maunaṁ
- quiet in Malayalam
- ശബ്ദമില്ലാത്ത, ശാന്തമായ, സ്വസ്ഥ
- quiet in Kannada
- ನಿಶ್ಶಬ್ದತೆ, ನೀರವತೆ, ಮೌನ, ನಿಶ್ಚಲತೆ
- quiet in Punjabi
- ਚੁੱਪ-ਚਾਪ cuppa-cāp, ਚੁੱਪੀ cuppī
- quiet in Gujarati
- શાંત śānt
- quiet in Sinhala
- නිශ්ශබ්ද niśśabda, නිශ්චල niścala
- quiet in Assamese
- শান্ত xanto, শাঁত xãt
- quiet in Nepali
- शान्त śānta
- quiet in Arabic
- صَامِت ṣāmit, هَادِئ hādiʔ
- quiet in Malay
- diam, senyap
- quiet in Persian
- خاموش xâmuš, آرام ârâm, کم صدا kam sedâ, کم گوی kam guy
- quiet in Thai
- เงียบ ngîiap, นิ่ง nîng, สงบ sà-ngòp
- quiet in Vietnamese
- yên tĩnh, im lặng
- quiet in Myanmar
- ဆိတ် hcit
Examples of quiet in a sentence
- all quiet on the Western front
- Before long, the unsuspecting salesman was earnestly pitching him "the quietest noisemaker on the market."1999 May 4, William Safire, “Essay; The Quiet Noisemaker”, in The New York Times:
- There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 8, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- For women, it requires "quiet"-colored clothes, with fully covered collarbones, ankles, and knees.2019, Abby Chava Stein, Becoming Eve, Seal Press, page 52:
- For thou haſt created us for thy ſelfe, and our heart cannot be quieted till it may fine repoſe in thee.1631, Saint Augustine, “He Admires Gods Majesty, and is Inflamed with a Deepe Desire of Praising Him”, in William Watts, transl., Saint...
Synonyms of quiet
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- equanimous
- equanimitable
- even-keeled
- even-minded
- even-tempered
- imperturbable
- laid-back
- level-headed
- mellow
- pacific
- peaceable
- peaceful
- phlegmatic
- quiescent
- relaxed
- roolie
- sedate
- still
- tranquil
- unexcited
- unfazed
- unflappable
- unflustered
- unperturbable
- unruffable
- unruffled
- untumultuous
- slow
- unbusy
- abeyant
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of quiet
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | quieter |
| comparative | more quiet |
| superlative | quietest |
| superlative | most quiet |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | quiets |
| present participle | quieting |
| past participle | quieted |
| past | quieted |
| Noun | |
| plural | quiets |
Origin of quiet
From Middle English quiete, from Old French quiet (adjective) and quiete (noun), from Latin quiētus, past participle of quiēscere (“to keep quiet, rest”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“rest”). Doublet of coy, quit, quite, and quietus. Largely displaced native English still in the sense of "with little or no sound".
Words formed from quiet
- all quiet on the Western Front
- anything for a quiet life
- be quiet
- bequiet
- dead quiet
- nonquiet
- overquiet
- Quaalude
- quiet as a church mouse
- quiet as a grave
- quiet as a snowflake
- quiet as the grave
- quiet carriage
- quiet coyote
- quiet coyote gesture
- quiet cracking
- quieten
- quiet firing
- quiet fox
- quiet fox gesture
- quietful
- quiet hands
- quiet hiring
- quiet horror
- quietish
- quietistic
- quietless
- quietlike
- quiet luxury
- quietly
- quiet move
- quietness
- quiet party
- quiet promotion
- quiet quit
- quiet quitting
- quiet revolution
- quiet room
- quietsome
- quiet storm
- quietway
- quiet zone
- radioquiet
- say the quiet part loud
- say the quiet part out loud
- so quiet one could hear a pin drop
- so quiet you can hear a pin drop
- superquiet
Phrases with quiet
Words that rhyme with quiet
1 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about quiet
- What does quiet mean?
- Quiet means with little or no sound; free of disturbing noise.
- What is quiet in Hindi?
- Quiet in Hindi is शांत (śānt), ख़ामोश (xāmoś), अव्यस्त (avyast). See Quiet meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use quiet in a sentence?
- all quiet on the Western front
- What part of speech is quiet?
- Quiet can be an adjective, a verb, a noun or an interjection.
- How do you pronounce quiet?
- Quiet is pronounced /ˈkwaɪ̯.ət/.
Words near quiet in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: quiet (page history and authors); quiet (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); quiet (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); শাঁত (Assamese) (page history and authors); शान्त (Nepali) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-quiet.ogg.
Cite this entry: “quiet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quiet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.