shut up

verb

shut up; shutting up; shuts up

transitive verb

: to cause (someone) to stop talking, laughing, etc. : to quiet (a person or animal)

My mother brought me a batch of cookies from the storeroom to shut me up.

—Don Asher

… she had a neighbor who would text her after the first few barks: "Can you shut your dog up?"

—Hannah Fry

Connor McDavid didn't just answer his critics last Thursday—he shut them up with a hat trick and a reminder of what happens when the best player in the world decides he's had enough.

—Jim Parsons

intransitive verb

1

: to stop talking, laughing, etc.

My friends and family are sick to death of hearing me talk about Paris. … What I won't shut up about is the food.

—Matt Davidson

Mikel clapped his hands like a gunshot. The birds shut up.

—Joe Fiorito

—often used as an imperative

Shut up so I can hear the TV.

also : to stop writing

They want all of their journalists to just shut up and stop posting online.

—Joan Donovan

2

—used interjectionally to express surprise or shock

Shut up! That's amazing! Congratulations!!!

—@windog, on X, formerly Twitter

Synonyms of shut up

• dry up
• hush
• clam up
• quiet (down)
• belt up

Examples of shut up in a Sentence

you have no right to tell the rest of us to shut up

nothing I said would shut them up

Recent Examples on the Web

That’s a dangerous combination in a business where people love telling you to sit down and shut up. — Emma Specter, Vogue, 31 Oct. 2026

Only Derek Jeter had something noteworthy to say and only when Ortiz would shut up, which was rare. — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 29 Oct. 2026

Nobody was telling Meg to shut up in the comments section, as Chlöe’s music peers gave her a ton of love for the costume. — Michael Saponara, Billboard, 26 Oct. 2026

At breakfast, Victor won’t shut up about Tomica being a Traitor. — Alice Burton, Vulture, 23 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1814, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for shut up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup

Kids Definition

shut up

verb

1

: to cause a person to stop talking

2

: to stop writing or speaking